4. The opportunity
There are a number of factors which suggest the timing for greater international engagement is particularly favourable.
The global market is projected to grow substantially and rapidly: for example, over the next 15 years the international market in higher education is projected to expand by 37 per cent (to 5.8 million students) 15. For the five main English-speaking destination countries 16 the growth rate is expected to be over 40 per cent. This presents Scottish colleges, universities and other providers with the opportunity not simply to expand international activity by maintaining market share, but to increase that market share considerably.
Scotland is currently perceived as a welcoming country, a trusted partner and an innovative and effective contributor to international projects. Recent work on the promotion of Scotland, in particular the Fresh Talent Initiative, has conveyed a good impression of the country and has sent a very positive message about the way in which Scotland engages with the world. This was confirmed by the findings of a recent survey of international students in which 90% rated Scotland as a good place to be and indicated they would recommend the experience to others 17.
Scotland is also perceived as an international leader in many aspects of education. There is considerable international interest in the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) 18 as a model to assist learners, employers and providers. The SCQF is the unified qualifications framework which underpins and supports Scotland's goals for lifelong learning. There is also strong international interest in the Scottish approach to quality assurance, within which the concept of embedding a culture of enhancement is increasingly regarded by others as the most effective way forward.
Research in Scottish Higher Education is of the highest quality. In the last UK Research Assessment Exercise 19 around half of Scotland's research was rated internationally excellent.
The key strengths lie in life sciences, medical research, biotechnology, informatics, energy, nanotechnology and environmental science. Scotland leads the world in terms of the number of citations per head of population, and in terms of the number of academic papers published per $M spent (when compared with 11 of the world's major higher education economies, including the USA) 20.
There is genuine enthusiasm in the two key sectors, colleges and universities themselves. The universities have continued to expand their international activities and through their representative body Universities Scotland they have made internationalisation a priority for policy development. The college sector has been equally energetic, taking its existing activity to a higher level by launching Scotland's Colleges International (SCI).
Since devolution and the appointment of Scottish Ministers, renewed opportunities are available. The Executive has been keen to promote Scottish interests internationally and recognises how important our world class education system is in underpinning development across a range of sectors.
Lastly, it is worth noting the competitiveness of the international education market and also considering that this market can be volatile - presenting threats as well as a large number of opportunities. It will be important that, in order to remain at the forefront, Scottish providers seek out and harness these new opportunities to enable Scotland to stay ahead of competitor countries.