It seems the wide-spread use of English around the world is having a knock-on effect in surprising ways. As reported by the Times Higher Education, research from the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation shows that the UK is still attracting roughly the same number of International students as it has since 2014, even though the latest data shows the number of students travelling for education globally is on the increase.
Countries including Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia and the Netherlands are all seeing rises in the numbers of students from outside their borders. While for many countries on the Continent this increase is coming from within Europe, some countries’ student numbers are swelling with pupils from Asia. Ireland, for instance, has seen a 47% increase in Asian students.
Possible explanations for why students aren’t necessarily heading to the UK, but still gravitating to foreign universities, are cost and the amount of courses taught in English elsewhere. However, there is some opposition to the numbers of foreign students taking up places that might otherwise go to home-country students, particularly in the Netherlands. To combat the attractiveness of programmes there to overseas students, it has been suggested that there ought to be a limit on the number of courses taught in English. However, as the director of higher education policy at the European University Association, Michael Gaebel, told the THE, “Talking to colleagues in the Netherlands, no one can imagine a future without teaching in English.”
