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News
ISC report highlights international student goals
A report on the international student populations of independent schools in the UK has revealed that 77 per cent of non-EEA international students go on to university in the UK.
The Independent School Council (ISC) conducted the study at the end of last year in response to proposed changes to the Tier 4 student visa system, which were introduced in April this year. The results of the survey – which was undertaken by 215 ISC member schools – will be used to support the council’s lobbying efforts on behalf of member schools who already invest a considerable amount of resources into enrolling international students.
The study found that the most popular entry age for international students wanting a secondary school education in the UK was between 16 and 17 years, with this age group making up 40 per cent of new overseas pupil entrants in 2010. A further 36 per cent of new international students started at their school between the ages of 13 and 15 years.
The UK government’s policy of reducing access to student visas for higher education as well as postgraduate study is therefore likely to have an affect on students entering the independent school system in order to take A-levels and go on to university in the UK.
Kristen DiLemmo, Researcher at ISC, said, “By expanding out from our results to the ISC Census dataset, we may conservatively estimate that 8,000 of ISC schools’ non-EEA pupils carry on to UK higher education institutions after sixth-form. The financial contribution of these pupils to the HEI sector is undoubtedly considerable even before we take into account their spending in the community.”
The survey also showed that each school spends an average of UK£5,000 (US$7,906) each year on student visa administration, with sponsor licensing fees and CAS letter issuance fees contributing to the burden.
Feature
Homestay versus boarding
 While the majority of independent schools in the UK that actively recruit international students house their international visitors in boarding facilities, a small number also offer a homestay option. Bethan Norris finds out more.
Most international students and parents interested in a UK secondary school education envisage themselves or their children staying in residential accommodation, as fitting in with the archetypal image of studying in a traditional UK boarding school.
Yet the boarding option is not the only accommodation type offered to international students by secondary schools in the UK, as some are at pains to point out. St Margaret’s School in Exeter is unusual in that it only offers homestay accommodation for its international students and has no boarding facilities at the school. Karen Marshall at the school says, “We do not get requests for this option [homestay] and in general have to educate agents about it.” She continues, “I think it can be [a selling point for the school] but you have to get the right students – probably European as the Asian families do not really like it.”
At Abbey College in Malvern Wells in Worcestershire, Mehran Noor says that they offer homestay accommodation alongside boarding at the school, although this option is only chosen by a small percentage of their international student body. “Generally it’s the parents who like the host family rather than the students as they think it would improve their English faster than living in residence,” he says.
Living with a family rather than in a boarding house with other school pupils may be appealing for those concerned about the safety of their younger-aged children or perhaps those that feel their children would benefit from the more intimate, one-to-one care of a family when away from home for the first time. However, most boarding schools have on-site house parents as well as plenty of provision for tackling homesickness and other emotional issues likely to arise among UK and international boarders. The benefits of homestay over boarding then mostly come down to personal preference on behalf of the students and their parents.
As well as homestay students being able to experience a typical UK family life while studying at a school in the UK, Marshall points out another advantage, “We can also offer short-term stays which boarding houses often can’t.” She adds, “We only use parents with children at the school so we know them very well and can therefore match them. We have not had a situation where it does not work out but if it does, we have plenty of parents offering.”
In general, the appeal of homestay accommodation over boarding is likely to remain small in the UK, but greater marketing to agents could raise the profile of this niche sector of the market.
Agent Profile
In a new bi-monthly section, we ask an advisor that specialises in UK boarding school placements to tell us about their business and why they like working in this sector of the education travel industry. This month we talk to Anna Lupushinskaya from Millennium in Russia.
 “We established our agency in 1999 and send between four and 10 students to UK boarding schools each year. We send students to language courses, boarding schools, undergraduate and post graduate programmes all over the world and are one of the leading agencies in the south of Russia. We also run our own language school. We use various advertising strategies to recruit our students such as school visits, education fairs, seminars and presentations at schools, parties for our students, TV and newspaper advertisements. We are happy to give our students an opportunity to improve their foreign languages, make a step to their future career, make new friends, travel and see the world and feel themselves more confident in communication with people from other language backgrounds. The majority of our staff took part in education programmes themselves and now we would like to share our experience and knowledge. We value our reputation as a high quality agency and many of our clients find us by word-of-mouth.” |
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