U.K. education - Britain’s most important export?

Britain’s much admired education system has educated the world’s elite for decades. But can the UK maintain its status and influence on global education into the mid-21st Century?

I know that it is unfashionable for the British to blow their own trumpets but “the U.K. has some of the very best schools and universities in the world.” There, I said it.

The critical insider’s view might be that the British educational system in its various forms is far from perfect but, viewed in a global context, it is quite remarkable. Indeed, increasing numbers of people around the world are buying into British education either by studying in the U.K.; or by enrolling at a British curriculum school or university in their own country.

So, is U.K. Education is Britain’s most important export?

International Students Studying in the U.K.

The U.K. universities have attracted the world’s elite for the best part of a century. Today, the United Kingdom is the second most popular university destination in the world for international students, behind the United States. In 2020-21 there were 584,100 overseas students studying at U.K. universities, accounting for 22% of the total student population.[1] The net economic impact of international students on the UK in 2021-22 was £37.4 billion[2]. Given the importance of this income stream, it is not surprising that the U.K. Government has set a target of 600,000 international students studying in the U.K. by 2030.[3]

The same can be said of U.K. boarding schools. Britain has some of the very best boarding schools in the world and they still attract significant numbers from across the globe. In 2022-23 there were 25,469 students who parents live overseas studying in U.K. Independent Schools; of these 5,654 were from Hong Kong and 4,706 from Mainland China.[4] International students may only account for 4.6% of students at U.K. independent schools, but they constitute a significant 38.4% of the total number of boarders. Indeed, many boarding schools would not be financially viable without the income from international students.

Taking British Education Around the World

British education has never remained confined to its own shores. Britain’s top universities, as well as its boarding and day schools, have long been the model for educational excellence that has been adopted around the world. It is no coincidence that Harvard and Yale look like Oxford and Cambridge; or that boarding schools in Australia would fit in well in the Home Counties.

Schools

The establishment of British international schools around the world initially went hand in hand with the expansion of British trade and industry. The availability of good British curriculum schools was, and remains, a pre-requisite for attracting talent to cities like Hong Kong because expat families would not make the move abroad without the availability of good local schools. The expansion in the Asia-Pacific region is typical: Tanglin Schools Trust in Singapore (1925), Alice Smith in Kuala Lumpur (1946), Bangkok Patana School (1957), British School of Jakarta (1973), Kellett School, The British International School in Hong Kong (1976), and The British School Manila (1976).

The past twenty years has seen an explosion of British International Schools opening up around the world. There were 2,584 English-speaking international schools in 2000 which grew to 13,190 international schools with enrolment of 6.5 million students in 2022 and this trend set to continue.[5]

The most high-profile manifestation of this has been the ‘export’ of U.K. Independent School setting up overseas campuses – UK Independent Schools Council schools operate some 107 campuses educating 71,660 students.[6] The drivers for these ventures have undoubtedly been financial with the profits from overseas’ campuses subsidising fees funding bursaries at the U.K. ‘mother’ school.

The biggest market by far is Mainland China. According to the Venture British Schools in China Annual Report 2023, there are currently 65 U.K. independent school campuses in China; of these 23 (35%) hold licences to educate the Children of Foreign Nationals. However, China’s Private Education Law 2021 has meant that the trend for growth is in decline: 14 opened in 2020, 8 in 2021 and only 4 in 2022. Most of these new schools will have shifted away from the expat, international school model; instead, they are targeting aspirational, middle-class, local families by providing a bilingual Chinese-British curriculum model.

Universities

The establishment of university ‘branch’ campuses overseas has been another field where the U.K. is a world leader. Nottingham was the first British university to establish an international campus in 2000 when it opened its Semenyih Campus in Malaysia. Today there are 46 international ‘branch’ campuses of U.K. universities.[7] In 2017–18, there were 1.5 times as many students studying for a U.K. degree overseas than there are international students studying in the U.K..[8]

Examinations

One other significant educational export is that of examinations. There are also thousands of students internationally taking U.K. examinations like the IGCSE and professional qualifications in everything from accountancy to health and safety.

Brand Finance *Global Soft Power Index for 2023*

The Importance of U.K. Education PLC:

The importance of exporting U.K. Education should not just be seen purely in economic terms. Rather, its true importance is in terms of the ‘soft power’ that it brings.

‘Soft power’ is a measure of a nation’s influence: it is about ‘hearts and minds’. The U.K. ranks second in the Brand Finance Global Soft Power Index for 2023. Britain’s influence in this area is disproportionate to its size and economic strength - this is in no small part due to part that U.K. Education plays. Indeed, according to this survey, Britain leads the world in the ‘Education and Science’ pillar.

Britain has a long history of educating the world’s elite. Its ‘soft power’ is embodied most visibly by the prime ministers, chancellors and presidents who studied in the U.K. in their younger years. At present, the U.K. educated the current leaders of around one in four countries in the world.[9]

As a consequence of the formative times spent studying in the British system, these senior figures around the world have a greater bond and affinity with the U.K. which can manifest itself in diplomatic, ethical and trade decision-making. For this reason, International students have been called ‘the best ambassadors a nation has’.[10]

The Ongoing Importance of U.K. Education?

U.K. Education finds itself at an important juncture, and the jury is out on whether or not Britain can maintain its status and influence on global education into the mid-Twenty-first Century.

There is no doubt that the U.K.’s hold in Higher Education is slipping. Oxford may still rank at number one, but the U.K. only has 6 universities in the world top 50; the US has 7 in the top 10 and 23 in the top 50.[11] Alongside this, the U.S. toppled the U.K. from its long-held to “soft power” top spot of educating the most of world leaders in 2018; and latest figures show that the trend is continuing. [12]

U.K. Education’s ongoing importance is likely to be worked out in two key political arenas.

The first is Europe. What will be the impact of Brexit? In 2018-19, there were 143,000 students from the E.U. studying in U.K. universities – accounting for 30% of the International student population.[13] The changes in funding arrangements for E.U. students studying in the U.K. has undoubtedly had an impact, halving the number of students coming from the EU. The number of students from the EU who enrolled for the first year of an undergraduate or postgraduate course was down from 66,680 the year before Brexit came into force, 2020, to 31,000 in 2021.

The second is China. Given the importance of China as a supplier of international students around the world, much will depend on whether China continues to send its youth to study abroad, and whether the U.K. or the U.S. is seen as the most desirable English-speaking destination. The growth of British curriculum schools in China may be influential here. It will also be dependent on the extent to which China develops world-class Higher education institutions of its own over the coming years. China already has two universities ranked in the top 25 in the world (Tshinghua and Peking Universities)[14].

And so . . . .

The U.K. continues to have great influence on education around the world. It has been a privilege over the past eight years with all my colleagues at JESS Dubai and Kellett School, the British International School in Hong, to fly the flag for British Education and to contribute in a small way to what is undoubtedly “Britain’s most important export”.