Policy paper

Ministerial foreword to the 2023 International Education Strategy update: Minister Halfon and Lord Johnson

Published 26 May 2023

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

The UK is a world leader in international education and we are committed to building lasting and mutually beneficial education partnerships across the world. International education can be a genuine force for good. It drives global social prosperity, trade, world class standards, development, climate change adaptation and sustainability, and international mobility.

We are proud that the UK education brand is one that is renowned for quality, excellence, and pioneering thought leadership and innovation. There are many opportunities for young people to benefit from the UK’s world class education system. The reputation of UK universities remains strong. We have world leading institutions - four in the top ten globally. We have an overall reputation for providing high quality education. Equally, UK universities are recognised for the quality of their research. There are many longstanding collaborations with business which help to drive innovation across the UK economy. We have an extensive range of skills and training providers delivering industry-based skills through apprenticeships, higher quality technical and vocational qualifications such as T Levels designed to strengthen economic development and open access for all. Our skills network is operating all over the world supporting talent development in green, technology, future facing skills and traditional sectors. The UK’s Turing Scheme and other UK-wide scholarship schemes, such as Chevening, the Commonwealth Scholarship scheme and the Marshall scholarship scheme, allow young people from around the world to benefit from the UK’s world class education and thrive in a global economy. Through our sustainability and climate change strategy, we are promoting education as a key tool for tackling climate change. The new international qualified teacher status, iQTS, is providing the same high standards found in English qualified teacher status for teachers training across the world.

Our International Education Strategy builds on the success of UK education internationally, committing to achieve two key ambitions by 2030. These are:

• to increase international students to at least 600,000 students per year
• to increase education exports to £35 billion per year

This update sets out the significant progress we have made and our priorities for the future.

We are proud that we have met our student ambition for two years running and we remain firmly committed to continuing this success year-on-year, ensuring that global demand for a UK degree remains strong. With the UK recording £25.6bn in education exports in 2020, we are also on track to meet our £35bn export ambition by 2030.

These are notable achievements despite the unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. We want to pay tribute to the UK education sector, alongside Professor Sir Steve Smith, the UK’s International Education Champion, for all of the success and impact in building new partnerships and fostering connections with overseas networks and governments.

Recommitment to the International Education Strategy

Despite the profound global changes that have taken place since we published the International Education Strategy in 2019, our strategy remains as relevant as ever.

A strong education sector is integral to the UK’s ability to maintain its global position. We are in a global talent race, and we must do all we can to nurture and attract the best and brightest to the UK and ensure we have a resilient and creative student intake, to be able to adapt to future trends, challenges and demands.

This is why the UK government is reaffirming its commitment to the International Education Strategy, and its ambitions, in this update.

There should be no doubt that we continue to champion and value international education. Economically, our global education footprint is significant, but its value extends far beyond that. Education is a force for good and a vital tool for forging strong reciprocal international relationships.

Our priorities for furthering international education

As we recommit to the UK government’s International Education Strategy, we are setting out three priorities, to maximise the UK’s education potential.

1. Growing and diversifying the whole of the UK’s international education export base

The UK can be proud of its export success right across the education sector. The value of our international education activity extends far beyond trade activity, but there is significant room for growing education exports from a diversified base to meet the global demand for skills. This is crucial for meeting our £35 billion export ambition. Diversifying our export base will mean a more resilient and sustainable education offer.

Revenue from international higher education students in the UK contributed to 70% of the £25.6 billion education export revenue in 2020. This is a great success story and one we want to promote. However, this contribution to education export revenue is high and we believe there is significant potential to grow other parts of the education sector, particularly those most impacted by the pandemic, as we look to the future and build a pipeline of talent to meet business needs.

Last year we saw major new initiatives by UK providers in key overseas markets. In July 2022 PSI Exams, a global provider of assessment services, opened a Skills for English test centre in Libya. In 2022, Aldenham, Reigate, Chatsworth and Downe House schools opened campuses in Saudi Arabia, following the success of King’s College Taunton. The City of Glasgow College have coupled with Glasgow Caledonian University to deliver maritime skills training in Indonesia, including curriculum development, teacher training and apprenticeships. We will continue to support both new and existing education exporters to grow international business.

We want to accelerate growth in all areas of the education sector. We will work closely with the sector to support diversification of education export revenue streams.

To do this we will ensure we can build an accurate picture of the size and trajectory of education exports each year. We have committed to improve the accuracy and coverage of this data and we will continue working to improve the quality of education export data, following recommendations made to the UK government by the London School of Economics. We will work with the education sector to ensure we can measure progress accurately against our ambitions.

We will also respond to the growing demand from overseas governments and institutions to collaborate on technical and vocational education (TVET) and build capacity in interested markets to deliver exports in these areas.

The UK Government works very closely to support and promote diversification and sustainable sector growth including transnational education (TNE), as well as capacity building with partners overseas. While the UK is seen as a global leader, competitors also seek to grow international education exports and partnerships. We therefore encourage our sector to diversify and be proactive, even in markets where the UK has a strong presence. We know there is huge appetite across the world to work with the UK on skills and TVET, and we want to see these exports grow in future years, supported by the work of our International Education Champion.

2. Protecting the competitiveness and sustainability of international higher education student recruitment

We are proud that the UK remains a destination of choice for so many overseas students. International mobility is increasing, but so too is global competition for talent. As part of our International Education Strategy, we have taken important steps to ensure the UK continues to compete on the world stage. This is why we are proud to have delivered our manifesto commitment to support international students, allowing them to remain in the UK for work after their studies.

We remain committed to our flagship ambition to host at least 600,000 international students each year. We will continue to ensure our offer to international students is competitive – with the graduate route visa remaining an integral part of this.

At the same time, we recognise that the immigration of international students and their dependents must be sustainable. That is why the government announced that it would remove the right of international students on all but postgraduate research programmes to bring dependants on the student visa route, as part of a wider package of measures to control migration. These measures reflect the need to balance the vital economic, cultural and educational benefits that international students bring to the UK, with wider commitment to controlling migration.

In addition, significant strides have been made to ensure that international student recruitment comes from a diversified base, and we will continue to build on this, looking to ensure that growth is sustainable and higher education institutions do not rely exclusively on a small selection of markets. We will do this by working with the higher education sector directly, and the British Council, to ensure Study UK, our global campaign, supports the sector in their ability to explore new higher education markets.

We will continue to work closely with the Home Office and with the HE sector to protect the student visa route from exploitation, including action to ensure that recruitment agents are operating fairly and transparently, and growth in student recruitment is sustainable in the longer term.

3. Developing the UK’s global education offer

We want to celebrate the diverse range of excellence throughout the UK and over the next year will collaborate with the sector to enhance the UK’s international appeal and reputation for excellence and quality. We want to continue to present the UK, both at home and overseas, as a valued partner to countries in international education. Together, we will maintain the UK’s world-class international education offering.

The UK government’s ambitions for international education extends to activity delivered by government departments such as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which strengthens the UK’s leadership and influence in the world. The UK government has committed to grow and develop girls’ education, as part of the FCDO’s new International Women and Girls’ Strategy, and has secured commitments to action during the Transforming Education Summit for foundational learning and education in emergencies and protracted crises. We continue to work with international partners to develop the skills and capabilities for current and future workforces across priority industries. We promote international knowledge exchange through international collaboration and mobility in research.

As set out in our three-part approach, we will protect the competitiveness and sustainability of international higher education student recruitment; continue to diversify the UK’s education export base; and develop the UK’s global education offer. Education serves as a strong vehicle for promoting the values of the UK. By establishing education partnerships with international counterparts and sharing successful practices, the UK can also learn from high-performing overseas institutions and improve its own education standards. Such partnerships foster collaborative relationships that create a shared vision for education, both domestically and abroad, and contribute to strengthening unity and improved outcomes for all.