Welfare Reform on the Web (August 2007): Education - UK - higher

The strategy of internationalization in universities: a quantitative evaluation of the intent and implementation in UK universities

R.M. Ayoubi and H.K. Massoud

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 21, 2007, p. 329-349

Successive UK governments have encouraged universities to increase the numbers of fee-paying students they attract from overseas. This paper investigates the UK higher education sector's response to these policy imperatives through an analysis of the mission statements of 117 institutions and an analysis of data on foreign student numbers collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. Universities fall into one of four categories:

• International losers (15%) - universities with no strategy or activities in place to attract foreign students
• International speakers (37%) - universities which claim to be interested in recruiting overseas students, but take no practical steps to do it
• International winners (37%) - universities which have a successful strategy in place for attracting overseas students
• International actors (11%) - universities which do not declare an intention to recruit overseas students in their mission statement, but are nevertheless active in this field.

Students' perceptions of the effects of term-time paid employment

S. Curtis

Education + Training, vol. 49, 2007, p.380-390

This research investigated students' perceptions of the impact of undertaking paid work on their university experience. A total of 336 undergraduates completed a questionnaire and results showed that 59% were employed for an average of 15 hours per week in term time. They engaged in paid work to service their debts and finance current living expenses in the face of lack of financial help from parents. Working students felt that employment boosted their skills and confidence, but admitted to being tired in lectures and spending less time than they should studying. They also considered that they could have achieved better grades if they had spent more time on their assignments.