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Popular tertiary courses
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For students considering tertiary study in a foreign country, making a decision about which degree to take is half the battle. Given the sheer range and number of electives out there, there is a lot of choice for international students, but as Nicola Hancox discovers, the majority opt for business-related or engineering programmes.
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“The key areas of demand will remain business programmes, but with a growing interest in health-related areas and specialised computing areas,” asserts Peter Daly, Manager of International Student Recruitment at the University of Wollongong in Australia. Accounting for over half of their entire international student intake, Wollongong’s business programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level are certainly a core product and he notes that this trend is generally reflected across the tertiary sector in Australia.
Indeed, according to data released by Australian Education International (AEI), Accounting, Management & Commerce, Business & Management, Business Management and Information Technology were the top five fields of study for international undergraduates in Australia last year, enrolling a combined total of 69,333. Approximately 24,231 international students enrolled on an accountancy-based course in 2008 with Chinese, Indian and Nepalese students among the most numerous. Management & Commerce, the second most popular course, attracted 20,094 students, a majority of whom were from China, Malaysia or Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the top five subject areas chosen by students at a Vocational Education and Training institute (VET) in Australia included Hospitality Management, Business Management, Business and Management, Cookery and Hairdressing. Again, Indian, Chinese and Nepalese students dominated the nationality mix, with Brazilian, Thai and Korean students also making their presence felt.
Many of the providers profiled for this piece noted a distinct leaning toward business- or management- based degrees. Avril Taylor, Director of Short-term Programmes at the English Language Centre, part of the University of Victoria in Canada, surmises this could be owing to parental pressure. “Engineering and Business [are our most popular courses] as most parents feel these professions have good career prospects,” she says.
Meanwhile, Dawn Schmid, Director of the American Language and Culture Institute at California State University San Marcos in the USA, attests that Business and Computer Science have widespread appeal. “Business seems to be the most popular major regardless of student nationality,” she says.
Interestingly, the recent Open Doors report, published by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in the USA, found that there were 110,906 international students enrolled on business/management courses in 2007/2008 – by far the most popular field of study in the US – representing a massive 18 per cent of the total international student populace, while engineering degrees attracted 15 per cent and Physical and Life Sciences, eight per cent.
In New Zealand, Beth Knowles, Director of International Services at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) in New Zealand, reflects that certain courses attract particular nationalities. Business and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) programmes are inherently popular with Chinese enrolees, she says, while their reputation for Computer-Aided Design and Science programmes has helped attract students from the Indian sub-continent.
Knowles attests that the Bachelor of Applied Management programme offered at CPIT is exceedingly popular with international students across the board. Covering areas such as accounting, business communication, commercial law, business heritage, cultural sustainability, marketing and computing, students can choose to major in any of the aforementioned fields. “This programme has a number of different specialisations and students may choose to do a double major without having to extend their study period,” she notes.
Meanwhile, in the UK, Dr Anne Stokes, Director of the Centre for English Language Teaching at the University of Stirling, has noticed an emerging trend in terms of nationality bias. “Here at Stirling, the most popular subjects are management and finance-related,” she says. “Most of the students are from China and Taiwan, but there are growing numbers from Saudi Arabia interested in the same fields.”
According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) in the UK, Chinese students accounted for a sizeable chunk of all non-UK domicile students in 2007/2008; 13 per cent. And almost half (44 per cent) opted to take a business or administrative-based degree. Unsurprisingly, this was the most requested field of study last year, chosen by 27 per cent of the entire international student body. Degrees aligned to engineering & technology (electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and civil engineering topped the list of electives) was the second most requested field of study, achieving a 12 per cent share of the UK’s international student base, with Chinese students again dominating the field.
The student dynamic at any individual institution is a little more complex, as Paul Cullen, International Officer at Writtle College in the UK, details. Owing to the broad spectrum of courses available there – programmes are typically geared toward land-based subjects such as agriculture, animal and equine sciences, horticulture and conservation but there are also mainstream electives such as design, business and sport – Writtle College attracts a variety of different nationalities, he says. “We have a strong nationality bias throughout the college – Japanese and Korean students studying Garden Design and Floristry, Norwegian students studying Animal Science and Equine Studies, Chinese and Indian students studying Business Management and Zimbabwean students studying horticulture and agriculture,” he explains.
As for possible trends in future recruitment patterns, Schmid in the USA relates that global themes and issues could well impact on student subject choice. “We offer Environmental Studies and I can see this major becoming popular as nations consider how to deal with global climate change,” she says. Cullen in the UK signals that creative degrees could be an area to watch. “Creative industries offer greater potential in terms of employment and opportunities in developing economies,” he ventures.
Meanwhile, Stokes predicts that the number of students entering postgraduate study will slow in the current economic downturn. “Given the current job market, I would expect that students will remain job-focused in the next few years and postgraduate numbers may well decrease if individuals fear giving up a job for further education,” she says. But Cullen at Writtle College does not share this viewpoint. “In terms of our [future] international recruitment, we believe our new full-time MBA will be a key subject area as students look to take higher degrees to be competitive in the face of economic uncertainties,” he states.
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