DISSERTATION (Litrature Review) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

(Litrature Review) - Dissertation Example This is disturbing for the UK economy as international students help to fund UK higher education. Migrants come to the UK for various reasons and students comprise of about 26% of the total migrants that enter UK as shown in the chart below: Source: Somerville & Sumption (2009). However, the precise number of international students is not known as no statistics are maintained of both the private and the public sector institutions (UKCISA, 2010). Amongst those studying full-time at publicly funded higher education institutions 214,000 were non-EU students out of a total of 306,000 students. The public funded further education colleges and the private colleges could have more non-EU students but the figures are not known. The immigration statistics can be confusing as those studying for less than six months are granted visa under a different category called ‘student visitors’. The non-EU students that have been granted clearance in the past few years are as shown in the ta ble below: Source: UKCISA (2010). These figures show a sharp increase over the past few years. The private institutions can set their own fees but at the state funded institutions the non-EU students have to pay the total fees with fees typically being between ?8000 and ?15000. International students account for over 40% of the total postgraduate students (UKCISA, 2010). About 50% of these students are engaged in research degrees but there is no subsidy offered to non-EU students. While there is a ‘cap’ on the number of EU students that can be accepted because of the limited funds, there is no cap on the number of international students that can be accepted. The private sector collages in the UK offer a wide variety of courses and are often less expensive thereby being affordable by the international students. International students contribute to the local economy because higher the number of students more jobs in the administration of the colleges and universities, add itional income or the UK universities and export income for the owners. International students enhance global connections. During the Asian financial crisis also student inflow had diminished in the UK while Australia had gained in student flow as a result. Another reason that student inflow is affected is because students started working along with studies as savings are reduced. The top ten UK student source countries have been shown in the table below: Source: Somerville & Sumption (2009). 2.3 Drivers of change in the current environment Internationalization of higher education is a response by academic institutions to a globalized world. This is basically a response to the new age which is marked by globalization, competition and marketization (Cheung, Yuen, Yuen & Cheng, 2011). Internationalization of education can be done in many forms and currently the most important form is the exporting of higher education service done through recruitment of overseas students. UK and Austra lia had so far been leading in recruitment of international students but Singapore is fast catching up. In Singapore education is considered a â€Å"knowledge industry† and accounts for more than 3 percent of the GDP. Education is fast becoming a global, market-oriented, private industry, and international mobility of students is a major concern for HEIs. The international trade in education services has become a major source of income in many countries. In Australia education services sector was the third largest exporter in 2007 while in the