The International Quest to Define and Improve Student Success

On November 4-5, 2018 the Global Forum will take place at the V Hotel Curio Collection by Hilton in Dubai, UAE. This year’s theme is “The International Quest to Define and Improve Student Success. A global forum on student well-being and outcomes in higher education”. Register today! The agenda can be found here. 

The knowledge partner of the 2018 Global Forum is the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) in Dubai. Each year, the Forum brings together policy-makers, researchers, faculty, and practitioners to delve into some of the most salient topics in international higher education—this year, student well-being and outcomes in HE.

The Forum’s keynote talk will be delivered by Sir Anthony Seldon, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham and one of the world’s leading thinkers on student well-being.  The topic is “Improving Student Success- The positive and mindful university”. Other compelling sessions include “Putting happiness and well-being at the heart of education”, "International and national approaches to student success”, and “Big Data- the search for new insights”.

Speakers and delegates to date hail from a range of organisations including KHDA, Quality Assurance Agency (UK), TEQSA (Australia), CPE (Singapore), SP Jain, Zayed University, Heriot-Watt University, TecMilenio University, and i-graduate, and locations including UK, USA, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Mexico, UAE, and more. 

11 October 2018

A Winning Story? Looking for Student Success Data in Israel

Richard Garrett, Director, OBHE

Israel’s higher education system is both well-thought of and often missing from policy comparisons and market assessments. The system’s low profile is partly cultural- Israel is the only higher education sector where Hebrew is main language of instruction, and is a very specific destination for international students- but is also attributable to the way the Palestinian conflict looms over all discussions of the country.

According to the 2018 Universitas 21 world ranking of systems of higher education, Israel ranks 18th out of the fifty countries profiled, and #1 in the Middle East region. When controlled for GDP per capita, Israel jumps to 9th best in the world, according to Universitas 21, and comes fourth on proportion of the workforce with a postsecondary qualification.

As noted in the first article in our student success data series, the U21 ranking is silent on other measures of student success. The closest the ranking gets is a comparison of the unemployment of higher education graduates. Student success can be measured in a variety of ways, and figures are often inconsistent between countries.

What data is published about student success in Israeli higher education?

Let’s start with the size and shape of the sector.

Full article available for members.

4 October 2018

Keeping Pace with Growth: What data tell us about student outcomes in China

Xiaozhou (Emily) Zhou, Research Associate, OBHE, Associate Professor, Shanghai International Studies University; Rachael Merola, Senior Researcher, OBHE

Chinese higher education has grown tremendously in the past decade. The most recent data from the Chinese Ministry of Education shows that from 2005 to 2015 over 28.5 million undergraduate degrees were conferred in China. During that same period the proportion of bachelor’s degree holders among the urban workforce rose from 22% to 47.2%. Growth in higher education access is undeniable; the question remains as to whether student outcomes, success, and well-being are being tracked as a metric of higher education quality.

Full article available for members.

28 September 2018

UK outward student mobility in the context of Brexit

Carolyn Walker, OBHE Associate; Consultant in International HE; Former Academic Director at INTO

Outward student mobility is widely acknowledged to be an important factor in the outcomes which students achieve from their higher education experience. But, in the UK, how well will the various mobility programmes fare once the country leaves the EU? According to Universities UK International (UUKi), in this context: “… it has never been more important that the UK demonstrate its commitment to international experience”.  But exiting the EU puts in jeopardy the UK’s participation in the Erasmus+ programme, which is “the single largest source of funding for UK student and staff mobility”. Since Erasmus accounts for 55% of outward student mobility placements, exclusion from this programme could be catastrophic.  

Full article available for members.

15 August 2018

Tertiary Edge: Employment rates and earnings premiums of Germany’s university graduates

Rachael Merola, Senior Researcher, OBHE

Germany has been a dynamic and powerful force in higher education in recent years. It eliminated tuition fees at public universities in 2014, has 44 universities in the world’s top university rankings, and enrolls 15% of all tertiary students in the EU. This article explores the growth of Germany’s tertiary education, looking at data on attainment, employment rates and earnings premiums.  

Full article available for members.

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