27 January 2016

Secretariat 2 March 2016

"International comparisons of funding in the higher education sector"

 
Speakers:
  • Vivienne Stern, Director, UK HE International Unit
  • John O’Leary, Editor, The Times Good University Guide
  • Professor Sir David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor, University of Nottingham

Vivienne Stern opened the meeting by describing the investment by the UK in research, commenting on the gross expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP for a range of countries. She noted that one way you can measure the success of this public and private investment by looking at the share of citations that UK research receives, this is particularly impressive as the UK has less than 1% of the world’s population but is producing more than 15% of the world’s scientific articles. Although she also asked attendees to note how rapidly China’s output has grown between 2008 and 2012. Ms Stern argued that the UK has become increasingly aware of the importance of international research. This is shown in the increased impact of research when UK researchers produce publications with international co-authors.

Her next slide showed comparisons of income and how successful UK universities have been at winning EU funding has begun to invite questions into how that income has been used, and why we haven’t seen the same progress of aspiration for research in the sector as we have on the education side.

Vivienne Stern then described how you could also attempt to measure the impact and value for money on research by looking at student satisfaction data. The percentage of students expressing overall satisfaction with their course domestically is at an all-time high according to the National Student Survey. According to the I-Grad Student Barometer the international student satisfaction has grown by 8-10% since 2005. The UK has maintained the position of 2nd in the world as the most popular destination to study for international students. Ms Stern concluded her remarks by noting that China sent the largest number of international students to the UK, but that their numbers have stagnated over the last two years and the UK sector needs to be aware of the impact this could have. 

John O’Leary set out the different methodologies used by those that provide international level rankings of institutions. International league tables typically have a greater emphasis on research indicators and the UK has a good story in this area. In the Times Higher Education World University Ranking, 78 of the top 800 institutions are in the UK and three UK universities are in the top 10. On both measures the UK is second only to the US.

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