THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
ON SOUTH AFRICA
by
NAUM OGWENY ALOYO
ECONOMICS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In pursuit of knowledge It is my hope that readers find this work an invaluable source of information. Accomplished under limited resources and time, this work would not have been possible without the contributions of the following people: Tracy Awuor Nyaruoth, my daughter, who was only three years old when I left Kenya in 2003 to pursue further education in South Africa. Tracy, you were always in my mind during those years I was away.
• My supervisor, Arnold Wentzel, who I first met in my first-year economics class in 2003 and has been a big source of inspiration to me through his teaching style and disposition. Arnold's leadership and guidance was very instrumental at every stage of writing this dissertation.
• Hardy Anneli of Statkon Department, University of Johannesburg, contributed immensely in the design, data capturing and statistical analysis of the questionnaires.
• Professor Ronald Mears of Economics and Econometrics Department, University of Johannesburg, who coordinated and facilitated my master's programme. Prof, Baie dankie, vriendelike groete. Dankie vir u volgehoue ondersteuning.
My appreciation goes to officials at various universities who facilitated and assisted with the access to information on international students: Professor Marie Muller (Registrar) and Elize De Wet of the University of Johannesburg; Hester Stols of Monash South Africa; Dr. Swemmer (Registrar), Santha Maistry and Karen Ritchie of University of the Witwatersrand; Jean Skene and Jacques Appeigryn of the Department of Education (DOE).
Last but not least, my appreciation goes to the international students who assisted with the survey in the six universities especially those from institutions farther from Johannesburg, such as NMMU, UCT, and UKZN.
Contents Page
List of tables List of figures ii List of Abbreviations and acronyms iv Abstract Vi
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Chapter 2: Literature review 7 2.1 Understanding international migration 7 2.2 Theories of international migration 7 2.3 Welfare distribution of international migration 11 2.4 International students and the BoP 15 2.5 Understanding movement of international students 19 2.5.1 Factors that determine the destination of international students 20 2.6 The movement of international students to South Africa 24 2.6.1 Factors encouraging flow of foreign students to South Africa 25 2.6.2 Factors that may hinder flow of foreign Students to South Africa 27 2.6.3 Different opinions on inflow of foreign students to South Africa 28 2.7 Special Need for skilled immigration to South Africa 31 2.7.1 The problem of emigration from South Africa 31 2.7.2 The structural shift of the economy 32 2.8 Conclusion 32
Chapter 3: Methodology of the research 35 3.1 .1 The research design 35 3.1.2 Survey 36 3.3 Sampling criteria and data collection methods 36 3.3.1 Sampling method 38 3.3.2 Expected biases and how they were reduced 38 3.4 Research methods 39 3.4 .1 Questionnaire 39 3.4.2 Interviews 41 3.5 Analysis of the results 43 3.6 Limitations of the research 45 3.7 Conclusion 46
Chapter 4: Analysis of the results 47 4.1 Characteristics of the international students 47 4.1 .1 Age and gender characteristics 47 4.1 .2 Source country characteristics 49 4.1 .3 Legal personas of international students 41 4.2 Pull and Push factors 51 4.3 The cost and benefits of the inflow to South Africa 54 4.3.2 Skills profiles of the international students 56 4.3.2 Skills infusion through employment 57 4.3.3 Skills transfer by engaging with South African students 57 4.3.4 Expenditure effects of international students 58 4.4 Processes and experiences that may shape the future of international students' flow to South Africa 69 4.4.1 The university registration processes 69 4.4.2 Choice of residence as shaped by administration of university residence 70 4.4.3 Home Affairs Department and the renewal of visas 72 4.4.4 Respondents' experience with xenophobia 73 4.4.5 SAPS and law enforcement 75
4.4.6 Experience with crime 75
4.5 Future plans of the respondents 77
4.6 Conclusion 77
Chapter 5: Concluding remarks, recommendations and future research 81
Reference list 92
Appendices 100 List of tables page
Table 1: Total number of registered international
students in selected SA universities 25
Table 2: Statistically significant similarities in
spending means across HEIs 59
Table 3: Statistically significant differences in spending means 60
Table 4: Mean monthly spending per category by province 62
Table 5: Estimated annual direct expenditure by residential international students in South Africa (2008 ZAR) 66 List of figures page
Figure 1: Welfare distribution in both the source country
and South Africa after immigration 12
Figure 2: Immigration with both positive and negative
externalities in South Africa 13
Figure 3: Open market model for export of international education 16
Figure 4: Open market diagram of institutional investment in
South Africa 18
Figure 5: Age profile and academic programmes in the
6SAHEIs,2008 48
Figure 6: Number of the respondents, their source country
and university 49
Figure 7: Respondents' from selected source countries and
course programmes 50
Figure 8: Pull and push factors of international students to
South Africa 52
Figure 9: Total number of international students at public HEIs in SA, 2000-2008 55 Figure 10: Respondents' views on university registration 70
Figure 11: Reasons for choosing to reside off campus 71 Figure 12: Respondents' views on the renewal of study permit
processes 72
11 Figure 13: Whether and how respondents have experienced
Xenophobia in SA 73
Figure 14: Xenophobia and source country of the respondents 74
Figure 15: Respondents and their experience with crime in SA 76
111 List of Abbreviations and acronyms
ANOVA A statistics programme for analysis of variances
BTech Bachelor of technology
COMESA Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa
CPIX Unit used to measure inflation that excludes inflation on
mortgages in South Africa
DoE Department of Education
DHA Department of Home Affairs
DRC The Democratic Republic of Congo
FDI Foreign Direct Investment
GDP Gross Domestic Product
HEI Higher Education Institution
HESA Higher Education South Africa
IEASA International Education Association of South Africa
Makwerekwere A derogatory term usually used by South African
citizens to refer to immigrants of African origin in South
Africa
MSA Monash South Africa
MTech Master of technology
NMMU Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
OECD Organisation of Economic Corporation and Development
lv SA South Africa
SAA South African Airways
SADC Southern African Development Community
SAMP Southern African Migration Project
SAPS South African Police Services
SAQA South African Qualifications Authority
Statkon Statistics analysis unit at the University of Johannesburg
UJ University of Johannesburg
UK The United Kingdom
UKZN University off Kwa Zulu Natal
UN The United Nations
Unisa University of South Africa
USA United States of America
Wits University of the Witwatersrand
V Abstract
The general conclusion arrived at in this dissertation is that the quality of infrastructure in South Africa has resulted in a large and increasing inflow of students from the other African countries. The ensuing influx of international students has been sustained through the activities of networks based on kin, acquaintance and the support of the source country governments. This has resulted in a large inflow of foreign revenue and growth of employment opportunities and income for South Africa. Although the revenue from the inflow of international students in South Africa is impressive, it is still trivial in comparison to what other countries such as the USA, the UK, Australia and China receive. Another advantage is that the presence of international students offers a potential boost to the skills shortage in South Africa. The direct benefits from international students to South Africa have the capacity to be further enhanced but a proper policy for facilitating such inflow is lacking. Certain administrative processes and practices in South Africa aggravate the situation. These procedures include visa application difficulties, university registration bureaucracy, and police behaviour. Worse still, crime and xenophobia in South Africa are common and they present some of the greatest threats to the continued inflow of international students.
Keywords
International students Foreign revenue Policy International migration Economic impact Skilled migrants University education Push/pull factors
V1 Opsomming
Die gevolgtrekking van hierdie skripsie is dat die gehalte van die infrastruktuur in Suid- Afrika gelei het tot 'n groot en toenemende invloei van studente uit ander Afrika-lande. Hierdie invloei word volgehou deur die aktiwiteite van sosiale netwerke gegrond in familie, kennisse en die ondersteuning van die owerhede van die lande van oorsprong. Die gevoig is 'n groot invloei van buitelandse inkome en groei van werksgeleenthede en inkome binne Suid-Afrika. Alhoewel die inkome voortspruitend uit die invloei van buitelandse studente indrukwekkend is, is dit steeds klein vergeleke met wat lande soos die VSA, VK, Australië en Sjina ontvang. 'n Verdere voordeel van die aanwesigheid van buitelandse studente is dat dit potensiêel die vaardigheidstekort in Suid-Afrika aanspreek. Hierdie potensiaal kan uitgebou word, maar word ongelukkig belemmer deur die gebrek aan 'n beleid om die vestiging van gekwalifiseerde buitelandse studente te fasiliteer. Bepaalde adminstratiewe prosesse en praktyke in Suid-Afrika, veral die verwant aan visum aansoeke, universiteit registrasie en die gedrag van die polisie, vererger die situasie. Misdaad en xenotobie is algemene verskynsels in Suid-Afrika, en vorm waarskynlik selfs 'n groter bedreiging vir die voortgesette invloei van buitelandse studente.
Sleuteiwoorde
Buitelandse studente Buitelandse inkome Beleid
Internasionale migrasie Ekonomiese impak Gekwalifiseerde immigrante
Universiteitsopvoeding Trek- en drukfaktore
vii "The world economy is changing as knowledge supplants physical capital as the source of present (and future) wealth... .As knowledge becomes more important, so does higher education," World Bank (2006)
Chapter 1: Introduction
Internationalisation of university education has increased over the last decade and has gained momentum with the increased international connectivity brought about by globalisation. The movement of international students occurs mainly from developing countries to the industrialised nations. Industrialised countries combined receive 85 per cent of all the international students (Larsen & Vincent-Lacrin, 2004:1). Of all the countries, the traditional immigrant countries such as the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand lead as preferred destinations for international students. Other developed nations like France, Germany and the Netherlands have also become important destinations for international students.
Likewise, some developing countries such as China, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa have become important destinations for international students (Giles & Luxmoore, 2007:4). Although very little research has been done on movements of international students to developing countries, indications are that students in developing countries (and some from developed countries) are increasingly pursuing higher education in developing countries. For example, Hall (2004:2) asserts that, with the return of democracy to South Africa in 1994, the country has become attractive to prospective students from other countries. Ramphele, Crush and McDonald (1999:1) observe that most of the international students in South Africa are from Africa and particularly from the SADC (Southern Africa Developing Community) region. Mutula (2002:9) adds that with the re-entry of South Africa into the international arena, neighbouring Botswana has been losing much of its share of university students to South Africa.
The inflow of international students brings a great deal of foreign revenue to the destination countries, and has been described as a form of international trade (OECD, 2004:11, Stevens, 2006:1). It also facilitates a transfer of skills in both the source and destination countries. For example, in 2006 trade in export education for Australia was
1 AUS$10.4b. In the same year, education- related services stood at 23.6% of all international trade in services, becoming the second largest individual-services trade sector in Australia (Giles & Luxmoore, 2007:4).
Aiming to draw on the various benefits generated by international students, developed countries now compete to attract and admit international students by adopting favourable internationalisation policies. For example, Gera and Songsakul (2005:380) state that countries like Canada and Australia have relaxed their immigration laws to facilitate the immigration of skilled workers, among whom are international students and who are vital to the increasingly expanding knowledge economy. Hence, apart from being driven by the demand for university education in the source countries, the increased mobility of international students is also shaped by the internationalisation policies of the receiving nations.
These policies are constructed on the premise that most of the international students move to countries with good infrastructure, where English is the first language and the medium of instruction, and where the cost of education is low (Zigurasa & Lawb, 2006:59). Students are most likely to go to countries where there is less loathing shown towards foreigners, where police apply the law with civility and where administrative processes like visa renewals are not obstructive. Lately, international students tend to go to countries where they have a chance of gaining permanent residency. International students are also mindful of the international recognition of their final degrees towards ensuring or increasing their chances of being employed.
In many instances, the internationalisation policies of the host country work in tandem with strategies of the admitting universities, who might also establish overseas campuses and distance learning programmes. The universities could also engage in rigorous marketing and mutual agreements to expand their revenue base and research capacities. The destination country might extend subsidies, and issue permanent residency to selected international students according to prescribed criteria. For example, the criteria upon which permanent residency is issued to international students in Australia is that such students must be below 35 years and have a good knowledge of the English language. The lower age requirement is necessary for filling the gap in skilled labour that has been created by the aging population. However, a
2 developing country such as South Africa with an abundant youthful population might not need to admit international students on age basis alone. For a country that has been, and is still, grappling with skills shortages, and facing emigration of its skilled population, skills-content of the international students might be a more important reason for South Africa to grant subsidies and/or permanent residency to international students who possess, or have the potential to acquire the needed skills (Bhorat and Hodge, 1999:168; Lamont, 2001:10).
Although writers like Ramphele, Crush and McDonald (1999:1), Hall (2004:3) and Pandor (in IEASA Report: 2004, Internet source) have noted that some of the factors stated above support the increased inflow of international students from Africa to South Africa, it is not clear whether the increased intake is due to South Africa's internationalisation policy or a large demand for tertiary education in the source countries. Moreover, Shindondola (2002:49) notes that proximity, political and economic instability and the inadequate number of universities in sending countries are also responsible for the surge in numbers of students from Africa. What seems to be guided by policy is the exchange programmes between universities in South Africa and their overseas counterparts. As Saghafi (2001:63) and Hall (2004.2) have observed, many overseas universities have signed mutual agreements that facilitate the exchange of students and enable joint research programmes between the local universities and their overseas counterparts. Furthermore, South Africa has historical political ties with many countries from Africa (which stood by the present political leaders during their struggle against the apartheid regime) and hence, through mutual understanding, the increased international students' presence is seen as strengthening this cause.
Whatever the reason is behind the increased inflow of international students to South Africa, there is a significant demand for university education in South Africa from international students who are mainly from other African countries. South Africa is caught in a policy dilemma. While a huge demand exists for university education for students of other African countries, South Africa is also seeking to address the imbalances in its education created by the policies of the previous regime (Ramphele, Crush and McDonald 1999:1). Thus, the admission of international students at South African universities might need to be qualified further. Apart from the fact that international students should create a positive fiscal balance for South Africa, they
3 should only be admitted provided such admission is not at the expense of South Africans. This means that admission of international students should be on a marginal basis, depending on the availability of places after considering qualifying South Africans.
Although it has been demonstrated that the presence of international students confers many benefits on both the source and the host countries, many policymakers (Pandor in IEASA Report: 2004, Internet source), leaders and experts (Hall, 2004:3; Ramphele, Crush and McDonald 1999:1) concerned with internationalisation of education in South Africa and the general public still think that only students from other African countries gain from studying in South Africa. They fail to appreciate how South Africa gains and could gain further from the inflow of students, particularly concerning revenue generation, research activities, skills transfer and the enhancement of international competitiveness of South Africa in an increasingly globalised world.
This perception in South Africa might change after the fiscal balance (the difference between what international students contribute towards the receiving country in the form of living costs and tuition, and what that country spends on them in form of subsidies, medical expenses and education of their siblings) has been determined (World Bank, 2006:40). So far, no study has been conducted to measure the fiscal balance of international students in South Africa. This may only become known after determining the source of funding of the international students (South African or foreign), the legal requirements (prerequisites such as being on medical aid, repatriation fees etc) and the characteristics of international students (their age and skills profiles).
There is still limited knowledge about the economic impact of international students in South Africa as little literature exists on the subject. At present, and to the best of my knowledge, there are only two studies that have researched the economic impact of international students in South Africa; a study by Snowball and Antrobus (2006) and the other conducted at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University cited in Snowball and Antrobus (2005:32). Both these studies bear significant differences in the total amount of expenditure by an international student in South Africa. Due to the continuing debate, and different estimates on the economic effects of international students, the economic importance of international students in South Africa is still less understood. It is not
4 surprising, then, that the presence of international students in South Africa is still viewed with circumspection, and often meets with resistance from politicians and the South African citizenry. Some of this opposition has been expressed through xenophobic behaviour on the part of South Africans towards international students of mainly African descent. Such practices might have long-term negative effects on the movement of international students to South Africa, and limit what promises to be an important growth sector. It is for these reasons that this dissertation seeks to establish the particular economic impact of foreign students' movement to South Africa. An analysis of the economic impact of international students on South Africa should inform an internationalisation policy of university education in South Africa. This dissertation is meant to provide some information for the formulation of such policy and to be a basis for further research. The following critical questions were raised to guide the execution of this dissertation.
Research question:
What is the economic impact of international students on South Africa?
Sub-questions:
• Is there economic theory and empirical work that could adequately explain the movement of international students to South Africa? • What are the main factors that attract international students to South Africa? • What are the benefits and costs of international students to South Africa? • To what extent do South African immigration policies, public mood, the universities' admission requirements and regulations shape the inflow and long- term prospects of the international students? • What are the future plans for these students? • What are the policy implications and what is the way forward for South Africa?
The rest of the article is organised as follows:
5 Chapter 2 discusses the literature review which considers existing theories of international migration and covers recent work on international students. Matters receiving attention are the movement of international students in South Africa; the factors responsible for international student inflow to South Africa, the benefits thereof, and the policies dealing with international student movement in South Africa.
Chapter 3 addresses the research methodology and the research design. Here, sampling criteria and data collection methods, expected biases and how they would be minimised, and limitations of the research are discussed.
In Chapter 4 the findings of the research are analysed. These include the characteristics of the international students, such as their biographical profiles, skills profiles and their future plans. It also investigates the factors that attract international students to South Africa, the benefits of these students to South Africa. Administrative processes at the universities are explored including factors that might undermine the growth of international students' movement to South Africa.
Chapter 5 presents a brief conclusion, recommends policies and suggests areas of future research.
6 Chapter 2: Literature review
The purpose of this chapter is to provide an understanding of international migration and to explain it within the context of increased movement of international students generally. The welfare effects of international migration in both the source and destination countries are discussed. The forces behind increased international students' mobility are explored with a focus on South Africa and how it could gain from this. Practices, policies and attitudes of the public officials, the universities' administrations and the general public are depicted as they have the capacity to shape the long term prospects of the internationalisation of university education in South Africa.
2.1 Understanding international migration
International migration is better defined in terms of country of birth rather than citizenship, that is the foreign-born that accurately captures the decision to migrate. Citizenship can change with naturalisation while country of birth is time-invariant (Ozden & Schiff, 2006:158). International migration is then understood to be the temporary or permanent movement of an individual or people from the country of birth to another.
2.2 Theories of international migration
The main theories of international migration can be grouped into two: those that explain the initiation of international migration and those that explain its persistence (Massey, Arango, Hugo, Kouaouci, Pellegrino & Taylor, 1998:16; Boswell, 2002:3). The neoclassical economic theory of international migration, comprising the macro-level and the micro-level, explains the initiation of migration while the meso-level explains chain or persistence migration.
Macro-level here refers to aggregate differences in economic growth, demographics and wage rates across countries. It posits that people migrate from areas with dense population, low wages, low standards of living, fewer job opportunities and political instability to areas with more job opportunities, higher wages, better living standards and a smaller population (Boswell, 2002:4; Massey et al. 1998:18). However, it is not
7 always true that people would necessarily migrate from densely populated areas to areas of lower population; much migration is from sparsely populated rural areas to the often crowded urban areas.
Boswell (2002:3), Massey et al. (1998:16-19), Ozden and Schiff (2006:4), Borjas (1989:459), Shimer (2001:120), Wets (2006:3) and Friedberg and Hunt (1995:23) further explain that politico-economic and cultural links between nation states (source and destination) and the world system define the employment and wage differentials, politics, level of technology, population and economic growth. These macro-differences create the push-and-pull conditions that trigger the initial migration. This theory also explains involuntary emigration like that of refugees fleeing a political repression. Furthermore, the macro-level theory explains that low-skilled labour flows from low- wage countries to high-wage countries. Similarly, capital accompanied by high-skilled labour flows from the high-wage countries to the low-wage countries. These flows continue until capital, wage, and skills are equalised in the two countries, a process described as the dual-labour market theory of international migration (Boswell, 2002:3; Shimer, 2001:120; Massey et al., 1998:17). However, Jennissen (2004:32) has noted that wage differences between two countries might persist for a very long time and migration based in this causation would, therefore, persist as well. While this theory implies that the net international migration is temporal, it ignores some prohibitive policies between countries that hinder free flow of labour and capital. It also fails to account for the migration of skilled people and students from developing countries to developed countries.
Jennissen (2004:32) asserts that Keynesian economic theory, carved from the macro- level, considers both the real wage and nominal wage differences between two countries. Indeed, initially, the potential migrants are mainly interested in the money wages in the destination country (to which they assign immediate notional functions; saving, exchange, remitting etc). The intention to send remittances and re-migrate increases the initial importance of the nominal wage over the real wage. If real wages do not meet expectations after the actual migration, these migrants would probably reverse-migrate or would move on to other destinations.
LV Other theories have been built around the still evolving globalisation process. World systems theory has been put forward by scholars who view international migration as a direct product of globalisation of the market economy. As the liberal market economy of the West expands into developing countries and into the countries emerging from communist systems, it disrupts economic activities in these countries thereby displacing workers from their stable occupations be it in peasantry, cottage industry or civil service. In the process, it leaves in its wake a mobilised population that is eager to migrate both internally and internationally (Massey et al., 1998:89).
Writers such as Borjas (1989:457) and Massey et al. (1993:1164) mention that changing modes of production, having engendered differences in economic activities between regions or countries are responsible for international migration as agents realign themselves to changing fortunes. Changes in economic and political conditions would also alter the attractiveness of a host country often resulting in migration realignments as agents search for the best offer (Massey, 1990:5; Borjas, 1989:457).
The macro-level analysis discussed above explains the conditions that make international migration possible. But the decision to migrate still has to be made. It is left to the smaller units, the individual and the household to make the decision based on the maximisation of their utility and the reduction of risks and costs (Massey et al. 1998:18). This is how the micro-level theory comes into play. The micro-level simply means that migration occurs for the same reasons as of the macro-level, but it is instead based on the small units' decisions (individual or household), rather than on aggregated decisions, after full consideration of the risks and costs against expected benefits of migrating (Castles and Miller, 2003:22; Boswell, 2002:4; Stark and Taylor, 1993:1163). Massey et al. (1998:18), Massey (1990:6), Massey and Espinosa (1997:939), Roy (1997:150) and Funkhouser and Ramos (1993:537) explain that migration costs cause individuals to base their decision to migrate on expectations of a positive net return in income. Hence individuals will migrate to countries where wages are higher after discounting travel and psychological costs.
However, it has been noted by Massey et al. (1998:21) and Ozden and Schiff (2006:25) that the decision to migrate is not necessarily made by a solitary individual. The individual often decides in concert with a larger group of related people: family,
9 household or the community after weighing the benefits or utilities of different migration options against not migrating. Scholars like Funkhouser and Ramos (1993:537), Roy (1997:150), Le (2000:83) and Borjas and Bronars (1991:123) have observed that the family is the prime mover of migration as family members, wishing to bolster their living conditions and secure their future, urge their members to migrate to other places or countries. Households may also encourage their members to go to a foreign country to improve or increase their income over other households and reduce their relative deprivation over the particular households, a process that is described as relative deprivation theory (Massey et al., 1998:26). Hence, many authors such as Massey (1990:3), Borjas (1989:457), Borjas (1994:1667), UN (2004:95) and Funkhouser and Ramos (1993:537) view international migration as an outcome of a calculated decision- making process whereby individuals and firms maximise their utilities and profits respectively. Firms here may refer to a company or a university located in the destination country and seek to recruit workers and students from the source country. This phenomenon has been described as the "new economics of international migration" (Massey et al., 1998:19; Jennissen, 2004:32).
The neo-classical economic theory of international migration still ignores the infrastructure that links and provides the information and resources that an individual needs for relocating to the destination country. It assumes that individuals have access to perfect information offered by the receiving country (Borjas, 1989:461; Antecol, Cobb- Clark and Trejo, 2003:192). Boswell (2002:3) also notes that while the macro-level and micro-level theories explain the case of pioneer immigrants, they fail to account for serial or persistent immigration that continues even after the conditions that led to the initial immigration have changed.
Boswell (2002:3-4) and Ozden and Schiff (2006:22) state that the meso-level theory, which is built on networks and linkages, explains chain migration. Migrants' networks, interpersonal ties that connect migrants, future migrants and non-migrants in the origin and destination countries are formed over time and space (Massey et al. 1998:42-43). Family networks provide the strongest ties while kin, ethnicity, households and nationality form weak or symbolic ties. It is the networks that provide the information individuals use to decide whether to emigrate, and the resources that will sustain them in the destination country. Network information often concerns employment possibilities,
10 education or access to social security in the destination country, while network resources could be vital to the migrants in financing the journey, providing accommodation or helping to find a job in the destination country (Jennissen, 2004:34).
Massey et al. (1998:44) assert that migrant-supporting institutions emerge over time. These could be clandestine organisations slipping people illegally across the borders, or legal entities involved in worker and student recruitment drives (Jennissen, 2004:34). These interlinked migration processes evolve over time with each migration episode creating more experiences and a sense of possibility about migrating along the same path. This creates a positive feedback process that promotes increasing emigration according to cumulative causation theory (Massey et al., 1998:45; Jennissen, 2004:33).
After migration, the physical movement and settlement of migrants causes wage, employment and demographic adjustments in both the source and destination countries. These adjustments create benefits and costs for different segments and entities in both countries and are subject to much debate amongst politicians, policymakers and the general public. Section 2.3 illustrates the welfare distribution in both the source and destination countries after migration, while Section 2.4 discusses the impact of providing university educational services to foreigners as export trade.
2.3 Welfare distribution of international migration
Welfare adjustments in both the source and destination countries occur through equalisation of wages and employment. Figure 1, which is divided into two panels, illustrates wage-equalisation processes in both countries. In both panels the labour demand curve is represented by the value of the marginal productivity of labour, VMPL. The labour supply curve is assumed vertical in both panels due to the countervailing forces of the income and substitution effects.
Panel (a) represents a source country where initially labour is abundant and wages are low at a Rand equivalent of 30. The initial labour supply curve is represented by the curve LS 1 . After emigration, the labour supply in the source country reduces to L5 2 and wages rise to a Rand equivalent of 45. In panel (b), initial wage is R150 and the labour
11 supply is represented by LS 1 , but after immigration, the labour supply increases to LS2 and the wage rate reduces to Ri 20.
Figure 1: Welfare distribution in both the source country and South Africa after immigration
Panel (a): Source country Panel (b): South Africa
Wage Wage
R150
R120 R45
R30
Labour Labour 0 75 100 0 50 75
Source: Adapted from Van den Berg (2004:540-541)
Figure i also illustrates the distribution of welfare in both countries after migration. In panel (a), before emigration, employees in the source country have an income of d+e, the employers' income was a+b+c. After emigration, the remaining employees in the source country see their income increasing to b+d, while the emigrating employees lose income (e). The employers in the source country see their income shrink to only (a) after losing b+c. Output in the source country decreases by c+e.
In panel (b) employers in South Africa (destination country) had only an income of A before immigration while the employees had an income of B+D and a higher wage of R150. After immigration, the employees see their wage drop to R120 and their income reduces to D. The immigrating employees from the source country gain an income of E, much higher than the income (e) they lost when they decided to emigrate by E-e. This gain is what informed their decision to migrate to South Africa. The employers in South Africa see their income increasing to A+B+C. Output in South Africa also increases by C+E. It can be seen that the loss of output in the source country, c+e, is less than the
12 gain of output in South Africa. Therefore, there is a net universal gain in output after migration.
These benefits and cost of migration have been studied by many scholars. Borjas (1995:3) and UN (2004:111) have enumerated the negative effects of immigration as declining wages or loss of jobs for the natives. Some literature observes that immigrants with lower skills access more social and public programmes and hence inflict a net negative fiscal input (balance) on the host country. These dynamics are illustrated and discussed in Figure 2 below as a leftward shift of the VMPL curve. In that sense, immigration is often resented by politicians and natives of the receiving country
However, the UN (2004:95) and Borjas (1994:1671-1672) observe that highly skilled workers do not take up the jobs of the locals nor reduce their wages, because the wage profile of skilled immigrants improves faster than that of the natives, as immigrants advance their skills level, work harder and are more motivated and innovative. In such an instance, the VMPL shifts to the right as shown in Figure 2 as a result of the positive effects of skills, innovation and employment flows. This has led some scholars such as Borjas (1994:1671;1995:5); Shimer (2001:120); Kanjanapan (1995:7) and Massey et al. (1993:431) to assert that benefits of immigrating could be increased (or its cost reduced) if host countries target skilled workers. Moreover, Borjas and Bratsberg (1995:165) claim that some immigrants finally return to their home country or move on to other destinations, a phenomenon known as reverse or return migration.
Writers like Shimer (2001:120), Kanjanapan (1995:7), and Massey et al. (1993:431) have summed up the positive effects of immigration on the host countries as being increased demand, increased productivity, increased revenue and positive skills transfer. In that sense, immigration increases total welfare and the efficiency of the receiving country because it shifts the VMPL curve to the right overall, and results in a net positive fiscal input into the destination country. The negative and positive contributions of the immigrants to the host country are illustrated in figure 2, which summarises and illustrates the welfare effects of international migration of both the skilled and unskilled immigrants in the destination country.
13 Skilled immigrants particularly contribute positively to the host economy by working in critical sectors that result in the creation of employment and increased output, innovation activities, or self employment.
Fig. 2: Immigration with both positive and negative externalities in South Africa (as host country)
Returns LLS, LS2 Dffj-
B I------VSLr.4vMPL' C ------MkVMPL II "VMP Number of workers Source: Adopted from Van den Berg (2004:547)
This has the effect of shifting the demand curve upwards from VMPL to VMP L1 as in Figure 2 because of increasing returns to scale. It is seen in figure 2, that from the initial equilibrium wage of E, the new wage increases to A as positive externalities prevent wages from falling to B after the increase in labour supply from LS, to LS2 following immigration.
In the case of the immigration of international students, the benefits are very large and the wages could increase well above A. This is because, apart from the positive externalities already discussed above, international students also pay tuition fees and spend on living costs and medical aid. These in turn have multiplier and induced effects which increase the total productivity of labour and output in South Africa. Also, in South Africa, international students do not have access to social security, hospital and education as they are required by law to be members of a medical aid, such that the negative externalities are so small as to be considered negligible. Moreover, due to the immigration and labour laws of South Africa that prevent students from working full-time and studying at the same time, the labour supply curve in this case would not shift much. Furthermore, international students would hardly send remittances to their source
14 countries (which would have shifted the VMP L curve downwards) as they do not get to enough income in South Africa. Instead, money flows from the source country to South Africa to pay for tuition fees that are higher than the tuition fees paid by local students. Hence, as the demand for labour shifts the VMP L upwards, wages rise to a high of D. International students may work for a maximum of 20 hours a week in South Africa, but only a small portion of international students get employment in South Africa and only a small portion remain to work in the country on concluding their studies (as will be evident from the analyis of the results of this study). Even if many of these foreign students could stay, their impact would be similar to that of highly-skilled immigrants (point A in Fig. 2) and therefore positive. Currently, there seems to be no studies undertaken in estimating the impact of international student employment in South Africa.
Although the emphasis is on the destination country, it is advisable to mention some of the negative effects of emigration in the source country without dwelling too much on them. Some of the negative impacts of emigration on the source countries have been given by Taylor et al (1996:181, Teferra (1997:1), Borjas (1989:458), Chang (1992:27), and UN (2004:97) as being brain drain, xenophobia, poor health, the education of children left behind and the reduced number of workers. Positive impacts have been noted as being remittances, reduced pressure on unemployment, inflow of foreign exchange, increased trade, and the return of skilled workers in increasing skills in the workforce. Because of these explicit and implicit gains and losses ascribed to immigration, countries might alter their immigration policies to determine the mix of those that enter. Borjas (1989:457), for example, states that wealth, income, and policies of the sending and receiving countries could act as incentives for immigration.
2.4 International students and the B0P
In some institutions the admission of international students is aimed at generating revenue for the admitting institutions. In this regard, education is usually offered on full- fee basis without subsidy. Local universities and the host country's economy could derive economic benefits in the form of tuition fees, living expenditure, tax revenue, innovation, research and enhanced teaching programmes (Stevens 2006:2). Often, apart from foreign students' spending on medical and living costs, they also pay a premium above the normal tuition fees to the universities. The action by some foreign
15 governments of granting scholarships to their citizens for studying abroad, often with the aim of building capacity, leads to the growth of flow of foreign revenue to the receiving countries. In this sense, cross-border education is seen as an export trade (OECD, 2004:13; Stevens, 2006:2).
Figure 3 uses an open market model to explain the dynamics of trade in international higher education. It is assumed throughout that South Africa, where Rand is the domestic currency, is the host country. Panel (a) represents the market for loanable funds with real interest rate (r) and quantity of loanable funds (OLE) on the vertical and horizontal axes respectively. Panel (c) represents the currency market with real exchange rate (e) and quantity of Rands in the vertical and horizontal axes respectively.
Figure 3: Open market model for export of international education (a) (b) r r
SLF (Saving)
DLF (l+NCO)
OLE
e C'
ei
OR Source: Mankiw (2004:709-713)
16 It is assumed that Saving (S) is the source of supply of loanable funds while domestic investment (I) and net capital outflow (NCO) is the source of demand of loanable funds. Panel (b) represents the net capital outflow and it links both markets in that it is the source of supply of Rands (which is not influenced at all by (e)) in the currency market and it is also part of the demand for loanable funds in the market for loanable funds. It is assumed the demand for Rands in the currency market is caused by changes in NX. Real interest and exchange rates are used to fit an assumption of an endogenous system which enhances the effectiveness of the domestic policy. Hence, although an inflow of foreign investments which decreases the NCO represents an inflow of foreign currency (forex), it is not considered as an increase in the supply of forex here as this would require an assumption of nominal exchange rates. Instead, the inflow of FDI (reduction of NCO) is rather seen as a decrease in the supply of Rands (the increased forex absorbs Rands from the currency market thereby reducing its supply). Similarly, an increased NX is seen as an increase in foreigners' demand of local goods/services and hence an increase in the demand of the Rands in the currency market for transactional purposes.
Because the inflow of international students is a South African (host country) export, it increases NX which in turn results in an increased demand for Rands in the currency market. This shifts DR upwards thus causing the Rand to appreciate as shown in Figure 3 above. The appreciating Rand has the effect of reducing NX that exactly offsets the initial gain in NX but leaving the Rand at an appreciated value. Hence, although the export of university education increases, it results in a decrease of exports of other South African goods like wines and commodities which eventually leads to a current account deficit. It could be observed that the resultant current account deficit would cause the Rand to depreciate again but that issue is not pursued further in this analysis. What is important here is the initial shock that is caused by the inflow of foreign revenue from international students (initial increase in NX) and the subsequent appreciation of the Rand which in turn reverses any gains in NX.
Encouragement of the establishment of programmes and institutions in a host country could also lead to skills and foreign capital acquisition (OECD, 2004:11). An example is Monash University's overseas campuses in South Africa and Malaysia (OECD, 2004:13). In such a case, institutional mobility is seen as a form of FDI. Figure 4
17 analyses the open market case of institutional mobility in higher education in South Africa and it is discussed next.
Figure 4: Open market diagram of institutional investment in South Africa (host country)
r (a) r (b) SLF (saving)
r1 r2 I
1 DLF2------(l+NCO) NCO2
QLF NCO e
e2 e1
OR Source: Mankiw (2004:709-713)
Because establishment of institutions of higher education is a form of FDI, it reduces the NCO, thus shifting the NCO curve leftwards. And because NCO is part of the demand for loanable funds, the demand curve of loanable funds also shifts leftward thus reducing the real interest rate (and partially increasing the NCO). Since supply of Rands in the currency market is caused by NCO, the supply curve in the currency market shifts leftward thus causing the Rand to appreciate, decreasing NX and causing the current account to move towards a deficit.
The appreciation of the Rand in this case is then caused by an increased inflow of either international students or investment in higher education. Both present policy
18 implications for the monetary authority in the host country. International student inflow could be a leading indicator that the host country's currency will strengthen and cause a current account deficit, especially if incoming foreign revenue forms a significant portion of net exports. Therefore, corrective measures should be put in place to guard against the adverse effects of such an eventuality.
2.5 Understanding movement of international students
Thus far, the discussion has covered the basic theories of international migration. The next step aims to test the validity and ability of these theories to explain the forces behind the increased mobility of international students with a focus on South Africa.
The official definition of international students in South African is problematic. Ramphele, Crush and McDonald (1999:1) state that an international student in South Africa "... is anyone who is not a South African citizen, not a permanent resident, or does not have diplomatic exemption." But a foreign-born international student could lose his/her diplomatic immunity and revert to temporary resident status in South Africa once the accompanying parents have been relocated to other countries or recalled. Bratsberg (1995:715) notes that international migration could be either legal or illegal. In South Africa, however, students are required to have a temporary residence permit and medical aid cover which tertiary institutions closely monitor before registration. Hence they can only reside in South Africa on a legal basis.
Larsen and Vincent-Lacrine (2004:1), Gera and Songsakul (2005:1) and OECD (2004:11) all classify the movement of international students with that of highly skilled immigrants. Castles and Miller (2003:171) assert that "student mobility is the precursor of skilled migration". Vertovec (2002:2) suggests that the term 'movement' or 'mobility' should be used in preference to the term 'migration' to describe migration pertaining to skilled workers. This is because migration has the connotation of long-term or permanency, while mobility connotes temporality, thus reflecting the multi-directional mobility of skilled workers.
According to Ozden and Schiff (2006:154) and Bekhradnia (2007:1) the movement of skilled workers, which include doctors, engineers and university students from the
19 developing countries, is concentrated mainly in the OECD countries which currently receive approximately 85 per cent of the total global international students. Larsen and Vincent-Lacrin (2004:1) state that this increased global flow of international students has been shaped by the demand for higher education in the developing (source) countries, and the policy for internationalisation in the developed (receiving) countries. In Europe, the immigration of international students has mostly been a product of policy, while the USA in particular, is found to be appealing and attractive to international students (OECD 2004:2).
2.5.1 Factors that determine the destination of international students
Mobility of international students is shaped by two main factors: factors that stem from the demand for university education in the source country; and policies of internationalisation in the destination countries. The discussion below begins by assessing the impact of the demand for university education in the source country.
House of Lords (2007:12) has observed that the demand for education in a source country is related to the decision of the individual who is interested in the quality of the educational experience they are likely to get, in the international comparability and usability of the qualifications they would obtain, and in the potential for increasing their work opportunities on graduation. Hence international students would move to a country or institution that promised to deliver these objectives to them.
The social capital or networks discussed in Section 2.2 have also been noted as contributing to the increased demand and flow of international students from developing countries to the developed ones (Massey et al.,1993:431; Funkhouser and Ramos, 1993:537; Massey and Espinosa, 1997:939; Vertovec, 2002:2-3). Massey et al. (1993:431) assert that human and social capital progressively lead to cumulative causation as pioneer international students gather experience that enable them to decide whether to migrate permanently and share it with their kin or acquaintances. The initial immigrating students are then responsible for a chain of migration that ensues as information filters back, inducing further migration. Recruitment companies have also formed more institutionalised networks to facilitate the movement of professionals and students from the developing countries to the developed ones (Vertovec, 2002:6).
20 The flow of international students from less industrialised countries to the industrialised ones is also seen as part of the globalisation process. Known within the social domain as the global integration theory, globalisation is considered a contributory factor to the increased international mobility of students (Massey et al., 1993:431). Increased globalisation has made it easier for students and network groups to communicate and move across borders. It has also seen reduced restrictions on the movement of people between countries, as closer activities between countries has led to the dismantling of the many barriers that existed less than two decades ago.
Furthermore, increased mobility of international students is a consequence of the differences in infrastructure that exist between the source countries and the destination countries (Massey et al., 1993:431). Accordingly, international students choose to study in countries with better infrastructure and educational facilities. In a sense, this explains the increased flow of international students from other African countries to South Africa, the latter having better infrastructure and facilities.
Other factors that contribute towards attracting international students are low cost of education, simple immigration procedures and uncomplicated regulations at the universities (Zigurasa & Lawb, 2006:59). Further causes of international students' mobility have been linked to the policies of internationalisation in both the source and destination countries, and the strategies adopted in the admitting institutions. Hence, developed countries now compete for the highly mobile skilled immigrants (Gera & Songsakul, 2005:1). Several countries, especially the industrialised OECD nations, have crafted policies of internationalisation of tertiary education (Zigurasa and Lawb, 2006:59). For example, Gera and Songsakul (2005:380) state that, in the new "knowledge economy", countries seeking to acquire skills, such as the UK, Canada and Australia, have relaxed their immigration laws to facilitate the immigration of international students. Policies in receiving countries are often tailored and streamlined, the cost of education is reduced and the universities strategise by marketing to attract international students (Zigurasa and Lawb, 2006:59-60; Hawthorne 2005:663).
From the two main forces that shape the flow of international students (the demand of university education in the source countries and the policy of internationalisation in the
21 receiving countries), four patterns emerge that define the internationalisation of university education:
• Mutual understanding imperatives comprise political, cultural, historical and academic realities, development aid and goals which involve domestic/foreign student/staff exchanges and scholarships (OECD 2004:13). For example, Zigurasa and Lawb (2006:60) have noted that countries recruit overseas students to strengthen political ties (through alumni networks). Ramphele, Crush and McDonald (1999:3) and Hall (2004:4) hail the benefit of exchange programmes as a viable means of generating research funds and coordination in South Africa. These programmes are also an important means of infusing international corporate culture for a country's students in preparing them to meet the challenges of the global economy. They further note that such programmes between South African universities and other universities from the African continent are limited. Saghafi (2001:63) and Hall (2004.2) state that many overseas universities have signed mutual agreements that facilitate the exchange of students and enable joint research programmes between local universities and their overseas counterparts.
• Skills acquisition imperatives place the emphasis on the recruitment of selected international students to fill the skills requirement of the knowledge economy. The expansion of research capacity of institutions is yet another policy initiative. Here, scholarship programmes and aggressive marketing targeting particular students, along with the ease of visa application requirements are vital (OECD, 2004:13). For example, Zigurasa and Lawb (2006:60) have noted that countries recruit overseas students to increase the skilled workforce of their labour. Stevens (2006:2) notes that having international students in local universities has positive spill-over effects on local students' ability to study and increases the level of international competitiveness. Age is usually a consideration when filling the skills gap. Australia usually targets youthful skilled immigrants because its population is ageing and the workforce in key professions is being depleted (Zigurasa and Lawb, 2006:60).
22 • The revenue-generating motive of some universities is discussed in section 2.4, whereby universities admit international students on a full-fee paying basis. Such universities always conduct marketing activities to attract the fee-paying international students whose additional spending on medical aid, upkeep and travels lead to an inflow of foreign revenue from the source countries to the destination countries and admitting universities. In this sense, service in the university education domain forms part of the exports of the destination countries (OECD 2004:14).
• Some foreign universities may take advantage of the demand for university education in source countries or destination countries by setting up foreign campuses to draw on the increased demand for university education. The setting-up of foreign campuses involves movement of investment and is considered as a form of FDI to the destination countries (OECD 2004:14).
To prevail in the increasingly stiff competition for international students, some interventions by the host country or the admitting universities will have to be focused and targeted on certain aspects of internationalisation. Some of these interventions are discussed below:
(a) Support for postgraduate students: postgraduate students seeking to move to a foreign country would look for availability of funds. For example, postgraduate education is less-funded in the UK as compared to the USA, where some universities would pay fees and give bursaries to ensure the most highly qualified students are attracted to them and retained, as they are important in generating new knowledge (The House of Commons, 2007:7). Also, high fees might hinder internationalisation of higher education, hence, a means of lowering fees is often sought (House of Commons, 2007:8). Schaeffer (2005:331) and Zigurasa and Lawb (2006:61) observe that labour force benefits would outweigh costs incurred in providing education subsidies to postgraduate international students should they become integrated into the host country's labour market.
23 (b) Improve infrastructure and academic programmes: To draw on the benefits that international students bring along, destination countries and universities tend to enhance their comparative advantage by improving educational facilities, infrastructure, mitigating cost of education, realigning qualification accreditation systems of both countries and ensuring international applicability of the courses and marketing (Stevens, 2006:4).
(c) Improve immigration processes: Immigration policies that facilitate entry, the right political mood, work rights and prospects of obtaining permanent residence are often adopted (Stevens, 2006:4).
(d) Although adopting English as the medium of instruction at universities has been identified as contributing towards shaping the decision of which countries and universities international students would move to, having an English-speaking environment is important but not sufficient. It is now being used as medium of teaching in certain institutions in non-English-speaking countries like France, Germany, Scandinavia and the Netherlands (House of Commons, 2007:7).
(e) Provide permanent residency: Some countries are now intentionally enhancing their attractiveness. For example, because of the high demand for skills, Australia gives points to international students towards attaining permanent residency, with English language proficiency and the needs of the economy being considerations in determining whether permanent immigration may be granted (Zigurasa and Lawb, 2006:60).
2.6 The movement of international students to South Africa
According to Lulat and Cordaro (1984:300) and the IEASA report (2004, Internet source) very little research has been done on movements of international students between developing countries, despite evidence that students from developing countries are increasingly pursuing higher education within these countries. Ramphele, Crush and McDonald (1999:1) observe that most of the international students in South Africa are from Africa. Mutula (2002:9) states that with the re-entry of South Africa onto the international scene, neighbouring Botswana has been sending many of its citizens to study at South African universities. Hall (2004:2) adds that with the return of
24 democracy to South Africa in 1994, the country has become attractive to prospective students from other countries.
The number of international students registered at South African universities has been on the increase since 2002. At the University of Johannesburg (UJ), international students only comprised 2.2 per cent of the total registered students in 2002. This percentage increased to 3.5 in 2007 (UJ International Relations Division, 2007:2). In 2007 there were 1 613 international students at UJ, but no reason has been put forward by UJ for this increase in the enrolment of international students. At Rhodes University (RU) there were 1 067 international students in 2002, 1 193 international students in 2003 and 1 297 in 2004 (Snowball and Antrobus, 2005:32). Cheaper fees and lower staff-to-student ratio have been cited as causes for the surge in numbers of international students to RU. Also, some international students chose RU because their parents had studied there. At NMMU, the number of international students increased from 300 in 1999 to 1400 in 2000 largely because of the transformation of the university's Centre for International Education (Snowball and Antrobus, 2005:32).
Table 1 shows that majority of foreign students at the selected nine South African universities were from the SADC countries (UJ International Relations Divisions, 2007:3).
Table 1: Total number of registered international students in selected SA universities in 2006 SADC Rest of Rest of world Total foreic Total % foreign Africa students students
UCT 2 500 481 1 842 4 860 21 731 22.4 UNW 3037 126 113 3278 39096 8.4 UKZN 1 552 606 646 2 804 40 761 6.9 UP 1 318 648 796 2764 46351 5.9 S 958 307 1 085 2350 22082 10.6 WITS 1 077 530 464 2086 23 241 9.0 NMMU 1 301 271 476 2048 24 132 8.5 UJ 933 392 130 1455 145503 3.2 UL 289 243 27 560 117578 3.2 Source: UJ international helations uivision uu/:,J).
25 Table 1 also shows that the University of Johannesburg (UJ), University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), University of Limpopo, and University of the North West (U NW) drew a larger proportion of their international students from the rest of Africa (excluding SADC) than from other parts of the world. The University of Pretoria (UP), University of Cape Town (UCT), Stellenbosch University (SU), Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) and the University of Kwa Zulu Natal (UKZN) had more students from rest of the world than from the rest of Africa.
Several factors similar to the ones encountered in section 2.5 have been cited for the increase in the number of international students studying at South African universities. These are a combination of pull factors and push factors and are discussed below.
2.6.1 Factors encouraging the flow of foreign students to South Africa
Although South Africa is a developing country, on the African continent it is perceived as being a developed country with the attendant implication for international migration. There have been organised labour campaigns that have raised South African wages well above those of the neighbouring countries, thus inducing the inflow of those international students who wish to remain and work in South Africa (Crush and Williams, 2005:3). Shindondola (2002:49) notes that proximity is also responsible for the large inflow of students from the southern Africa region to South Africa. The use of English as a medium of instruction at South African universities has also acted in attracting considerable numbers of international students to South Africa (Ramphele, Crush and McDonald, 1999:12; Hall 2004:3).
Certain push factors have been at play. Instabilities in some source countries like the DRC, Mozambique, Angola and Somalia have created large refugee populations who may have initially come to South Africa to escape unfavourable political and economic situations, but later decided to pursue higher education in South Africa. Inadequate universities in the source countries and a lack of suitable programmes are a further cause for the increased inflow of international students from other African countries (Shindondola, 2002:49).
26 Other reasons for the increased number of international students in South Africa include the establishment of mutual agreements that facilitate the exchange of students and enable joint research programmes between local universities and their overseas counterparts (Saghafi, 2001:63; Hall, 2004.2). Marketing by South African universities has also been noted by Maqubela (In IEASA Report, 2004: Internet Source) as having contributed to the increased inflow of international students.
Although some universities such as the UCT, UP, SU, NMMU, Wits and UKZN have impressive numbers of international students, the same cannot be said of other universities such as UJ and the University of Limpopo. Both have small percentage of international students at 3.2 of their total students. This may be attributed to the strategies of these universities and the policies and practices of the government, including the attitude of the general public in South Africa. The following section presents a discussion of some aspects affecting the movement of international students to South Africa negatively.
2.6.2 Factors that might hinder international student flow to South Africa
Many factors and issues exist in South Africa that might hinder the inflow of international students. These include xenophobia, high crime rates and administrative bureaucracies as discussed below.
There is a hardening of the public attitude towards immigrants of African descent, often bordering on xenophobia (Shindondola, 2002). Immigrants are seen both in the public and official eye as a threat to the citizens' interests that include jobs, housing and security (Crush and Williams, 2005:4). The post-apartheid immigration policy built on the imperatives of nation building and job creation has been restrictive and prohibitive and has made it hard for African immigrants with skills to get permanent residence or work permits through official means (Crush and Williams, 2004:7). The unofficial rhetoric, which has not been backed by any evidence, is that South Africa does not wish to deplete the skills in other African countries. Xenophobia in South Africa abounds in the media, commuter taxis, shopping malls, political leaders' and public officials' statements. Xenophobia sometimes comes in the form of exclusion from services, even if an immigrant is entitled to it. Some service providers often switch to a language the
27 foreigner may not understand. Use of derogatory terms like "makwerekwere" by Black South Africans is commonplace. At other times, it amounts to physical harassment or even death. All this has the effect of making a foreign student uncomfortable in South Africa (Crush and Williams, 2005:16-17).
The international practice towards international students adopted in South Africa has a dampening effect on international student flow to South Africa. This is evident in official publications, illustrated, for example, by the phrase "international students should indicate that they will return after completion of their studies" which appears on visa application forms and the website of the Department of Education. On some universities' application forms, it is stated that a foreign student should also affirm that he/she will not take the place of a South African. Some universities, such as UJ, apply preference to South African students when it comes to accommodation allocation. This is usually spelt out to the international student applicants for university accommodation by the university residence administrators as they issue out residence application forms. International students are also required to pay their fees upfront (for the whole year) including accommodation fees for those who get allocated on-campus accommodation. These are coded forms of xenophobia and they are administratively obstructive, if not prohibitive in some cases.
Another deterrent could be the high crime rate. In a survey by SAMP, 59% of foreigners in South Africa indicated that they had been mugged in South Africa. Of the South Africans who are emigrating to other countries, security reasons top their agenda (Crush & Williams, 2005:9). High levels of crime and xenophobia have the potential to temper chain immigration to South Africa.
2.6.3. Different opinions on the flow of foreign students to South Africa
The increase in the number of international students registered in South African universities has elicited mixed reactions. On a positive note, IEASA (2004, Internet source), Ramphele, Crush and McDonald (1999:2), Snowball and Antrobus (2006:168) and Ward (2001:6) observe that the benefits of internationalisation of university education to South Africa are that local students can learn from international students in becoming better thinkers and problem solvers towards broadening their perspectives
28 and preparing them for multicultural working conditions. This can be achieved through, for example, group discussions. However, the literature is silent on some of the most important economic contributions that international students bring to the host country: the infusion of foreign exchange in the form of tuition fees and living costs, which in turn have multiplier and induced effects on the South African economy. It also ignores the injection of skills in the local economy if international students could get to work in the research and other critical fields.
In contrast, other observers like Pandor (in IEASA Report, 2004: Internet source) assert that the increased inflow of international students would put pressure on the educational infrastructure in South Africa, which might cause the incoming students to be viewed with circumspection by the local citizenry. Although the literature does not state what this "increased pressure" means, it might manifest itself in missed university places by South African citizens. Moreover, competition for the use of public utilities like hospitals, schools and roads might ensue and see the displacement of South Africans in the universities (Ward, 2001:6; Wise, 2005:2; Lulat and Cordaro, 1984:300). However, there is no evidence that the admission of international students at South African universities has actually led to South African citizens being excluded, or whether South Africa extends scholarships and subsidies to foreign students. Moreover, Larsen and Vincent- Lacrin (2004:3) state that some international students are beneficiaries of scholarships from the sending governments and certain organizations. It is also not clear how or whether international students have access to free health services as they are required by policy to obtain a medical cover before they come to study in South Africa.
Some opinion leaders (Hall, 2004:1; Ramphele, Crush and McDonald, 1999:7) have noted that African countries supported the present political leaders in South Africa during the struggle against the apartheid regime and that some of these countries have entered into mutual pacts (SADC, COMESA) with South Africa. Through such historical, political and economic understandings, the increased inflow of international students is seen as strengthening these ties. Hall (2004:1) and Ramphele, Crush McDonald (1999: 14) assert that the need for internationalisation, the forces of globalisation and its benefits have to be weighed against the need to address past imbalances in higher education within South Africa. They suggest the need for South African universities to position themselves to meet the new challenges of internationalisation and
29 globalisation. However, national imperatives and the need to internationalise are not necessarily in conflict with each other. Internationalisation might very well create the economic benefits that would help to address the past imbalances in South Africa.
Snowball and Antrobus (2006:168) document valuable benefits that international students bring to South Africa, but they fault the use of an economic impact analysis in deciding to include international students in South African universities. Also, their consideration of expenditure as the only measure of economic impact is a limiting one, as economic impact should also include skills flow effects, employment effects and enterprise growth, among others. In any case, the article only considers expenditure on cost of living and tuition fees, omitting other expenses such as visa fees, medical aid, repatriation fees, cost of international (and local) telephone calls and airport tax. It fails to treat international students' expenditure as an export and thus a source of inflow of foreign revenue. Furthermore, the research sample was narrow in the sense that it was based on data collected from a single locality - University of Rhodes and the surrounding Grahamstown area.
Moreover, Snowball and Antrobus (2006:168) indicate that, of the international students surveyed, 73 percent were from Zimbabwe. Such a high concentration of respondents from one country could lead to the "cohort-effect" and capture mostly the characteristics of respondents from one country. To take into account opportunity cost, Snowball and Antrobus (2006) carried out a comparative study on the spending effects of both the international students and the South African students. One outcome of the study was that the economic impact of one South African student per year was R38 343 while that of a foreign student was R40 707 (Snowball and Antrobus, 2005:24), and yet it concluded that admitting a South African student was economically more beneficial than admitting an international student because of their opportunity cost. Many South African universities are still seeking admission of more international students (UJ International Relations Division, 2007:3) which calls into question whether they believe that international students replace local students and thus impose an unacceptably high opportunity cost.
30 2.7 Special need for skilled immigration to South Africa
This section justifies why the inflow of international students is particularly important to South Africa. The focus is on the need for and how to utilise the increased inflow of international students to mitigate South Africa's brain drain and the growing skills gap.
2.7.1 The problem of emigration from South Africa
One of the problems facing the post-apartheid South Africa is the brain drain. Hall (2004:4), Bhorat, Meyer and Mlatsheni (2002:23) and Ramphele, Crush and McDonald (1999:1) assert that the brain drain is evident in the number of nurses and teachers and other professionals leaving South Africa for Britain, Australia, or Canada, with the UK receiving the highest number. Bhorat et al. (2002:1, 8) in particular state that emigration of highly skilled people from South Africa is three times higher than the official data shows.
Many reasons have been put forward to explain the increased brain drain from South Africa. Crush and Williams (2005:17) assert that South Africa has easily the best recognised education on the African continent, which makes its skilled nationals attractive and sought after in the western countries particularly the English-speaking countries of US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Between 1989 and 2003, 32 296 South Africans emigrated to these five countries and a total of 720 000 had emigrated between 1989 and 2003 to these same destinations (Crush and Williams, 2005:17). A survey by SAMP in 2003 of newly qualified university graduates found that 28 per cent of them were eager to emigrate (Crush and Williams, 2005:20).
The technological revolution in the West has opened up many high skilled jobs in developed countries especially in the information technology, financial and communication sectors (Bhorat et at., 2002:3; Wets, 2006:1). This has been helped along by the growing importance of the service industry worldwide leading to a growing demand for skilled workers that cannot be filled with skilled workers from the developed countries alone (Wets, 2006:1). The large diaspora of South Africans in the West as well as recruitment networks have reduced the cost of relocating and provided information that emigrants need. The South African Network of Skills Abroad (SANSA)
31 is one such network agency (Vertovec, 2002:6). Vertovec (2002:14) asserts that there are a larger number of skilled emigrants than skilled immigrants.
Studies have shown that emigration of skilled people has been harmful to the South African economy even if on temporary basis (Crush and Williams, 2005:20). Worse still, this brain drain is happening at a time when all projections indicate that there will be an increase in demand for skilled labour in the South African economy.
2.7.2 The structural shift of the economy
The structural shift of the South African economy has also contributed to the increasing skills shortage locally. This structural shift is characterised by the shrinking agricultural sector and an expanding service sector, thus exacerbating the skilled worker shortage in South Africa. This has been helped along by the increased capitalisation of production, which resulted in a loss of agricultural jobs and an increase in service sector jobs with a population less skilled to take up the jobs in the new economy. The skills shortage is evidenced by the large number of vacancies at the top-end of the labour market for which the majority of the unemployed do not have the right skills (Vertovec, 2002:6-7).
The increased inflow of international students to South Africa thus presents an opportunity for South Africa to selectively increase immigration of the international students as has been done in other countries in similar economic conditions.
2.8 Conclusion
This chapter has discussed the theories of international migration and applied it to the increased flow of international students. The international migration theories are two- pronged: those that explain the initiation of migration and those that explain its continuity. It showed that international student flow occurs mainly from the developing countries to the developed OECD countries. Much literature has been directed towards that direction as well. It also emerged that there is some international student movement between the developing countries and only a small number of international students have come from the OECD countries. Demand for university education is mainly driven
32 by globalisation processes, and international students prefer to move to countries and universities with better infrastructure. This was also true of South Africa vis-à-vis other African countries.
Many other factors like the proximity of the source country to the receiving country, marketing by the admitting HEIs, and the use of the English language, among other factors, were also found to be additional attractions for international students to certain countries and HEls. Among these factors, it is not yet clear which ones have been more responsible for the increased inflow of international students to South Africa. It also emerged that although the use of English is an important pull factor, many non-English speaking countries have moved to adopt it as a medium of instruction in the HEIs. It then forces countries and HEI5 to do much more to tap into the increasing movement of international students through, for example, offering subsidies and scholarships to overseas students.
It was found that the demand for university education in the source countries, and the policy of internationalisation of university education mainly in the destination countries, are important determinants for international mobility of university students. Policies of internationalisation have been mainly geared toward acquiring young skilled immigrants in the OECD countries, which have increasingly aging populations, and the expanding service sector that requires an increasing number of skilled workers. It has been argued that South Africa, although having a young population, has a growing need of skilled workers and it could do well to ease the immigration of international students with the necessary skills. This is necessary given the country's dual economy, with an expanding service sector and receding primary sector on one hand, and a negative net immigration on the other. The inflow of international students to South Africa is, however, hampered by certain practices and attitudes found within the country. These include incidents of xenophobia as well a high crime rate that have the potential to reduce the long-term internationalisation of university education in the country. It has also emerged that some leaders and scholars in South Africa have not yet acknowledged or understood the economic importance of international students to South Africa. Indeed, some have discounted their economic importance altogether.
33 The theory and studies in other countries suggest that the benefits of international students to the receiving countries are many and may outweigh the costs. Since previous studies have been inadequate in measuring these costs and benefits for South Africa, policy has been based on opinions rather than hard facts. The next chapter attempts to provide a significantly more systematic and comprehensive study of the economic impact of international students than has been attempted before. The results of the cost-benefit analysis, combined with the literature, provide the foundation for informed policy recommendations in the last chapter.
34 Chapter 3: Methodology of the research
Chapter 2, which discussed the literature review, disclosed important information that was useful in responding to the objectives of this research. It gave direction to the kind of methodology to be used in addressing these objectives. This chapter discusses the research design, sampling criteria as well as data collection techniques that were used. It also cites possible limitations of the research and how they were eliminated or mitigated.
3.1 The research design
This section attempts to address the ways the research problem and questions were answered. Broadly this section seeks to further address the pull and push factors contributing to the inflow of international students to South Africa, the background of the international students, the cost and benefits of the inflow to South Africa and the factors in South Africa that may hinder the sustainability of international students' inflow.
The literature review and survey were used to explain, explore and describe the nature of the inflow of the international students. In employing descriptive analysis, the research revealed some characteristics of different groups of international students, such as their country of origin, gender age groups and courses they are registered for in South Africa. Through description also, the research estimated the proportion of the students who are on medical aid, have some sort of employment and/or are on scholarships. The research also explored the intentions of some international students who would like to acquire permanent residency, or who are employed in South Africa. The research further used age, course of study and source country characteristics to suggest possible policies that could be used to increase the benefits from international students' inflow.
35 Since the literature review was dealt with in chapter 2, the author's discussion in this chapter specifically covers the survey. A survey was the preferred methodology as it allowed respondents to give more personalised information and descriptions about their experiences in South Africa.
3.2 Survey
Conducting the survey involved collecting information from 181 international students registered for studies at six of South African HEIs in 2007 using a questionnaire. This particular survey was cross-sectional (data was collected at one time between March and September 2008). The survey also made use of one item in the secondary data already collected by NMMU in 2005 on spending by relatives of international students in South Africa who visit them and who also spend money visiting other areas of SA (Snowball and Antrobus, 2006:174). Because of the larger number oi cases oeng examined, the survey involved both quantitative and qualitative analysis in certain sections. The survey had also intended to use a semi-structured interview schedule to extract some information from the administrations of the said universities, however, this method was not very successful. Only three universities, UJ, Wits and MSA gave permission for access to information, and none of them responded adequately to the questions on the interview schedule. The researcher decided to use the little information they divulged as a secondary source, especially pertaining to the total number of students registered, their countries of origin and selected courses.
3.3 Sampling criteria and data collection methods
As already mentioned, the research surveyed internationalisation of university education at South African universities that admit the majority of international students from a diversity of countries. The research also targeted universities in four provinces in South Africa to obtain greater regional spread, and to avoid bias or differences associated with a concentration of international students from one country at a particular university, described by Westat, Frierson, Hood and Hughes (2002:26-27) as the cohort effect. However, the guiding principle was the ability to attract a diverse group and large number of international students, not the regional spread. Westat et al. (2002:26)
36 explain how to reduce the cohort effect and other biases which are discussed in detail in Section 3.1.1.
The investigation utilised the information in Table 1 to choose the five South African higher education institutions (HEI5) that enrolled the largest total number of international students registered in 2005, namely UCT, UKZN, Wits, NMMU and UJ. The criterion for selection was based on the number enrolled and diversity of origin of international students registered in a university as well as cost of carrying out the survey. Together, these universities comprised more than half of the total number of registered international students in South Africa. To this group of selected South African HEls was added Monash South Africa (MSA) that is a private foreign university yet having a significant number of registered international students.
Although Stellenbosch University (SU) meets the criterion, it was not included in the survey group owing to the cost implications. The University of Pretoria (UP) also meets the criteria but owing to cost the decision was made to survey the cluster of universities in Johannesburg Metropolis as they were within easy reach of the researcher. The University of the North West could not be chosen despite it having the second largest number of international students after UCT. This is because, as a result of its proximity to Namibia more than 80 per cent of its international students originate (DoE, 2007). The diversity could also be measured by looking at the number of international students from the rest of the world in comparison to those from rest of Africa. The calculations reveal that the University of the North West has the least number of international students from outside SADC, followed by the University of Limpopo and UJ in that order. From Table 1, it can be seen that the University of Limpopo has the least diverse and lowest number of international students amongst the five HEls. Despite UJ having one of the lowest numbers of international students, the researcher chose to survey it all the same due to the network and research infrastructure that is available to him as a currently registered student at the university.
As already explained above, MSA (Monash South Africa) was also surveyed for the reason that it is a campus of a foreign private university which brings diversity into effect. This brings the total number of South African universities surveyed to six. It is informative to note that the statistics from the national DoE do not include students in
37 MSA. The researcher obtained this number from the MSA records and tallied it to the figure from the DoE's statistics to calculate the total number of registered students in South African HEIs.
3.3.1 Sampling method
International students registered at South African universities formed the universe or target population of the sample. They were categorised into groups (stratified sampling) as suggested by Neuman (2003:223). These strata comprised rest of Africa, SADC region and the rest of the world. Sponsorship (whether self-supporting, government- sponsored or donor-funded), mutual agreements between the local universities and foreign ones (exchange students) and those students designated as refugees also constituted the main themes of the questionnaire. Snowball sampling was used as it enabled the researcher to survey universities in distant provinces through proxies (network of other international students). The sample size as recommended by Neuman (2003:232) was between 150 and 300 respondents. In this particular survey, the sample comprised 180 respondents, which falls within the recommended sample. Although the initial intention was to employ quota sampling to give fair representation of groups that are under-represented, such as the exchange students (see Neuman, 2003:212-214; De Vos, Strydom, Fouche, and Delport, 2006:203) the researcher failed to get this information from all the universities surveyed and the snowball method failed to net a substantial ratio of exchange students. Although permission had been secured to conduct research in some of these universities, the staff in the international offices could not "divulge private information of students to third parties" as they deemed it unethical despite ethical clearance having been given.
3.3.2 Expected biases and how they were reduced
• The cohort effect (Westat et al., 2002:25) which could be caused by having a large concentration of international students from one country in a university. Surveying many universities or omitting universities with large country-cohorts would reduce these discrepancies.
38 • Sample bias is due to the loss of sampling units. It mostly occurs because of non-response (respondents are unavailable, refuse to participate while some give incomplete answers) (Westat et al., 2002:25). It was reduced by repeated attempts at reaching respondents, prompt (timely) and careful editing of the completed questionnaires and comparing the characteristics of the respondents and non-respondents towards identifying any suspected differences. In cases of glaring differences, the suspect questionnaires were discarded and new respondents sought.
• Response bias is due to responses or observations that do not reflect the true picture, behaviour or attitude. It occurs because questions are misunderstood, vague, poorly designed or respondents give misleading responses to hide their true characteristics (Westat et al., 2002:25). It was reduced by careful pre-testing of the questionnaires, which allowed for the redesigning of misleading and misunderstood questions.
• Sampling error is the smallest of all the errors and can be reduced (but not eliminated) by increasing the sample size (Westat et al., 2002:26). For this reason, the survey did not assign a limit to the maximum number of respondents, but limited the minimum number of respondents to 30. However, the respondents from UCT (20), UKZN (16) and Wits (26) did not reach this minimum threshold. This discrepancy was nevertheless offset by larger responses from UJ (38), NMMU (40) and MSA (41) when considering the total sample.
3.4 Research methods
3.4.1 Questionnaire
Information from students was gathered through questionnaires. International students were requested to complete a questionnaire regarding their social habits, background and plans for the future (see appendix 1). It was a short questionnaire that was designed to take 20 minutes to complete and the participants were strongly advised to remain anonymous to ensure confidentiality.
39 The questionnaire was first designed by the researcher but after careful scrutiny by the supervisor and the Statkon Department of the University of Johannesburg, some questions were refined and others omitted. Also, before the questionnaires were distributed to the students, they had to undergo ethics clearance by the different universities' administrations. The questionnaires went through stringent scrutiny and editing, and further improvements of the questionnaire were made. Also, a few students who responded to the first copies suggested certain changes to questions that were not clear to them or did not apply to them (yet where appropriateness was vital to the objectives of the research). These changes were made and the copies that had been distributed thus far were disregarded for reasons of consistency.
The final questionnaire contained both open-ended and close-ended questions. Open- ended questions allowed respondents to give specific and particular responses that are unique to their behaviour, way of life and experiences in South Africa. Close-ended questions were used in areas where the researcher thought the response would be unanimous or where options were exhaustive, for example on age brackets, gender type and the university.
Furthermore, the questionnaire was subdivided into sections to capture different themes:
• The first section referred to background or biographical information of the international students, allowing a comparison of groups of respondents according to country, region, continent of origin, age, gender and courses of study and their future plan in South Africa. It was also established whether international education was/is being used as a means to finally acquire permanent residency in South Africa, or whether it was/is part of a sending government's strategy to build human capital.
• The second section explored their way of life in South Africa. Here spending patterns, type of accommodation, and travelling both in South Africa and back to their home country were examined. In this section some questions were
40 quantitative in nature and were intended to capture certain economic impacts, for example: how much do you spend on food, entertainment and transport? Some questions only needed to be qualified by a "yes" or "no" answer to confirm certain assumptions for example: have you been a victim of crime in South Africa? The expenditure impact analysis was influenced by statistical information from this section.
• The third section explored the experience of international students with certain processes in South Africa. It was investigated whether they had experienced xenophobia, racial discrimination, police harassment and exposure to crime. The respondents' opinions on the administrative processes at the universities and the Department of Home Affairs were explored and whether bribes had been solicited from them at the service offices. Here the responses were anticipated to be mainly qualitative, Yes/No. In some questions where a respondent answered "Yes", he/she was asked to divulge more information, some of which would be quantitative and have a measurable impact, for example if a respondent was asked for and had paid a bribe. Some of the questions sought evidence of social capital: whether the respondents chose to study in South Africa, and in particular at South African universities, after being recommended to them by friends/relatives/fellow citizens who studied/are studying there. Some questions also sought an answer to the question of why, in the first place, they chose to come to South Africa: use of English language, historical reasons and mutual understanding, proximity or regional ties (SADC), could be some of the reasons. An option "other" was provided, enabling respondents to provide their unique experiences and characteristics.
The information from international students was meant to be complemented by more information from the universities' authorities where available. For this purpose an interview schedule, discussed below in Section 3.3, was designed (see appendix 2).
3.4.2 Interviews
Certain information could not be obtained from the students, on the Internet or in hard copy. Such information could only be obtained from administrations of the designated
41 universities, and the Department of Education. An interview schedule was structured to obtain the information from the universities, while telephonic enquiries and email were used to obtain the information from the Departments of Home Affairs and Education. As with questionnaires in Section 3.2 above, the interview schedule was broken into themes:
• The International students' record was inquired into in this section. This was meant to indicate how many international students are registered at each university. In addition, it sought to ascertain the courses and year of study of the students and their academic progress. It also enquired about the number of postgraduate students that were registered at each university between the period 2003 and 2007. Evidence was sought of how international students are treated by the universities when they are allocated accommodation vis-a-avis the allocation of accommodation for local students. An enquiry explored the likelihood of a university facing a shortage of admission places because of admitting international students. In cases of such demand for admission, who are the applicants that are turned away, South African citizens or foreign students? Also, the number of exchange students in each university was studied to assess the significance of their expenditure and economic impact, yet this could not be established in the end owing to the reason already stated above.
• Financial and administrative compliance by international students was examined in this section. The research investigated the amount of tuition fees international students pay, whether they pay a premium over the tuition fee paid by the local students, and how much the premium is. Whether all international students, including exchange students, pay the same fees was also investigated. It also aimed at finding out the fee distribution across fields, degrees and years of study. Moreover, it explored whether universities and the South African government accord any bursaries and subsidies to international students, and the amount thereof. It would then have been possible to calculate the average net-worth of international students' tuition and accommodation fees at the universities.
42 • Marketing initiatives by the university were discussed here. Whether they undertake marketing activities to attract international students and the strategy they employ, for example, does the university, faculties or departments act separately or are a co-ordinated approach employed? The target and success of the marketing initiative was also investigated, that is, if a university has a target to recruit a certain number of international students to admit and whether they have been successful to meet this target.
3.5 Analysis of the results
It is apparent from the contents of both the questionnaires and interview schedule that the research in question employed both quantitative and qualitative methods. Hence a mixed-method design that combined the techniques of the two was adopted (Westat et al. 2002:24). Quantitative techniques allowed for generalisations to be made from the data of the sample to the universe (all international students in South Africa) (Westat et al. 2002:24). These were applied where precision in numbers was required to address the impact based on statistical consideration. Qualitative techniques assessed the information-rich answers to the objectives of the research.
From the questionnaires, secondary data and interview schedules, it was then possible to compute the total spending by the international students. In order to obtain a national average of monthly living expenditure, a weighted average was calculated using each province's share of international students for items with high between-group variances. The mean for items with low between-group variances, namely, phone calls, entertainment and medical aid was determined by adding their individual means separately. The total living expenditure was then calculated by adding together the two separate means stated above.
• The direct spending was calculated taking into account the living costs of students such as food, transport, accommodation, tuition fees, repatriation fees, entertainment, and phone call expenses. Another source of direct spending derived from the amount visiting relatives' spent while in South Africa. The latter was first calculated by two researchers and both arrived at the same value, so it
43 was not be researched again but gleaned from an existing secondary source, and adjusted for inflation (Snowball and Antrobus, 2006:171). The expenditure method (see Snowball and Antrobus, 2006:176) was used to determine the direct spending by the international students. It was intended that the South African government's subsidies (if any) and universities' bursaries would then be deducted from the direct spending to get the fiscal balance. However, this was not established. Instead, it was found from the survey that some respondents got funding from private South African companies and the NRF. The average direct expenditure in each university was evaluated using descriptive statistics in MS Excel and SPPS with the help of the Statkon Department at UJ. The averages of the six universities were added and divided by six to find the South African average. Then, total direct spending by international students was calculated by multiplying the South African average by the total number of international students at South African resident universities in 2008 (data obtained from DoE, 2009). For international students at Unisa, only their module fees were considered. This is because these students do not need to stay in South Africa where they would incur personal expenditure. Hence, the estimated tuition fees of international students from Unisa was added to the total spending, that included both living expenditure and tuition fees, of other international students from resident universities to get the total direct expenditure.
• The next step was to calculate the indirect expenditure which was achieved by multiplying the direct spending by the expenditure multiplier for South Africa.
• Total spending was then calculated by adding the direct spending to the indirect spending.
• The qualitative survey also yielded information to determine the contribution of international students towards research and innovation and the potential for skills development in South Africa. The registration of international students in the postgraduate programmes (Masters, Doctorate and Post-Doctorate level) and certain courses like Engineering, Commerce, and Sciences was used as a proxy
44 for skills effects of international students (see Gera and Songsakul, 2005:4). Other pedagogic impacts were measured from the qualitative information.
3.6 Limitations of the research
The first difficulty that the research faced was the cost of carrying out an extensive survey at six universities. The researcher, with the help of the supervisor, relied on the networks of other international students in the far-flung universities such as UCT, NMMU and UKZN to reach the respondents and collect data from the field. However, this proved difficult in the case of UKZN and UCT, as the some of the survey results that were defective could not be redeemed and had to be discarded. This led to under- sampling from these universities. The Department of Economics and Econometrics at the UJ also assisted with printing of the survey materials. The other difficulty experienced was the reluctance of some institutions to give permission to conduct research or give certain information, some of which they considered confidential. The supervisor and the researcher tried to convince them to grant the permission or divulge the required information, but this too failed to bear any positive results. The author finally decided to abandon the quest for permission and surveyed the students from the reluctant universities off campus. Other information from these universities that pertained to tuition fees, accommodation fees could be accessed from their websites. An attempt was made to obtain as much information as possible from the available literature.
The researcher also decided to ignore one component of the cost of university education: the cost that universities incur when they provide an educational service to international students. This cost is difficult to disaggregate from the other universities' costs as the service is usually shared with the South African students. Moreover, the provision of this sort of service incurs large fixed costs and is non-rival as its utilisation by foreign students does not reduce the share of the same to South African students. Hence, it is assumed that it has zero marginal cost. Previous similar research, for example Snowball and Antrobus' (2006:176) had also not included this cost in their analysis.
45 3.7 Conclusion
It is now possible to report the total number of international students registered at the South African HEls for 2007, and estimate their total spending and overall economic impact on South Africa. These include direct and indirect spending and other educational benefits. Whether and how the international students are important to South Africa, as it faces skills shortages through emigration and structural shift of its economy, can now be suggested. The countries of source, the factors behind the increased inflow, and sources of funding and the upkeep of international students can now be explained and described. Also, the future plans of these students, their experience in South Africa regarding university administration, visa application process, experience with crime and xenophobia in South Africa and treatment at the hands of the South Africa police can now be addressed. The differences in spending, personal experiences, future plans, and degree programme according to universities, gender, and age of these students have been established. From these variances, ways in which certain universities could improve on the administration of their services such as accommodation, medical aid compliance and registration processes could be suggested. Notwithstanding the reduced importance of the interview questions, the survey of the international students produced enough information that could be combined with the other secondary information to answer to the objectives of the study adequately.
46 Chapter 4: Analysis of the results
In Chapter 2 it shown that certain aspects of the international students' financial effects, such as the subsidies extended to them from South Africa and the sources of their funding, have not been determined. Earlier studies on aspects like xenophobia (Shindondola 2002), and economic impact (Snowball and Antrobus 2006) were done more than four years ago and hence they are dated in many aspects. The number of international students in skills-rich programmes has not been measured either, although their positive impact in postgraduate courses has been noted. Although South Africa possesses many qualities similar to those in the OECD countries that are attractive to international students, the role of universities in marketing themselves was barely clear. This chapter was designed to explore the biographical nature, future plans and the skills contents of international students, as well as investigating the administrative processes of South African institutions and departments. Broadly, this section seeks to investigate the pull and push factors contributing to the inflow of international students to South Africa, the background of the international students and their special characteristics, the cost and benefits of the inflow to South Africa and the factors in South Africa that may hinder the sustainability of international students' inflow.
4.1 Characteristics of the international students
4.1.1 Age and gender characteristics
The first item on the background information section was to find out the gender mix and age profile of the respondents. Out of the 181 respondents 57.7 per cent were female while the 42.3 per cent were male. It is almost a balanced gender mix although in this analysis, gender orientation of the respondents was not very important and it was not explored further.
Age is an important factor in international migration as it informs of an immigrant's potential contribution to an economy over time, and the result in this survey can be seen in Appendix 3. Age characteristics of the respondents were viewed across the field of study and Figure 5 summarises the results. The figures (numbers) in the coloured bars
47 represent the percentages of those who responded to this query according to course programmes and age groups. For example, for those who are registered in the Engineering programmes, 70.6 per cent are within the age group 22-29, 17.6 per cent are within the 30-40 age group, 11.8 per cent are within the 18-21 age group and none of the respondents to this question are aged 41 and older. The rest of the analysis on age characteristics of the respondents is as follows.
Figure 5: Age profile and academic programmes in the 6 SA HEIs, 2008
I I I Other 167 50 - 16.7 16.7
Sciences 30.8 53.8 15.4 o 18-21 o22-29 EngineeEngineering 11.8 70.6 17.6 o 30-40 o 41+ Commerce 17.5 61.4 19.3 f
Arts 30.6 55.1 10.2
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Source: Appendix 3
The 22-29 year age-group made up 58.2 per cent, the largest portion of the respondents in all course programmes, followed by the 18-21 year group who made up 21.5 per cent. The 30-40 year group made up 15.8 per cent of those who responded to this enquiry while the age group of 41 and above were the smallest portion of 4.5 per cent of the sample. lithe three critical course programmes, Engineering, Commerce and Science, are considered together, the 22-29 year age-group alone made up 61.9 per cent of the respondents to this query, followed by the 18-21 age group which made up 20 per cent. The 30-40 year age group made up 17.4 per cent of the respondents to this question. Approximately, of all the 181 respondents, 70 per cent of the respondents between the ages 22 and 40, are registered in these critical courses. This shows that a significant number of the respondents are young and are registered in the key courses critical to the South African economy. This is some of the information that earlier studies
48 did not investigate about international students, but which could be critical in designing both short- and long-term policies for the South African economy.
4.1.2 Source country characteristics
Appendix 4 and Figure 6 show that the respondents are from 25 different source countries. Because it would be difficult to analyse characteristics from 25 different countries, the study decided to only analyse characteristics of the respondents from seven countries according to biggest number of respondents as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: Number of the respondents, their source country and university
Swaziland I I I
Lesotho I 0 UJ
Zambia I El Wits oNMMU DRC I II DUCT Kenya I I MSA I 0 UKZN Botswana I
Zmbabwe I I
0 10 50 Number of respondents
Source: Appendix 5
It was found that most respondents from a single source country were from Zimbabwe, followed by Botswana, Kenya, DRC, Zambia, Swaziland and Lesotho. Also, respondents from Zimbabwe in any of the 6 institutions either formed the majority or second majority. Hence, from a single source country perspective, Zimbabwe sends most of the international students to South Africa. This is in agreement with the observations of other scholars as discussed in Section 2.6.
49
Kenya, which is a non-SADC African country, has a surprisingly large number of respondents. Most international students in South Africa have always been noticed as coming from SADC countries (Shindondola 2002:50; Snowball and Antrobus 2006:160). This was probably due to the bias of the snowball method which was used in the survey and the UCT and UKZN respondents who were surveyed through a Kenyan proxy. Due to very low representation of the respondents from outside Africa, the countries were grouped into two regions, the SADC and non-SADC. It was found that 69 per cent of the respondents were from the SADC region. This sampling is very close to the estimate of 70 per cent that was reported in the literature review, suggesting that sampling bias was minimised.
Figure 7: Respondents' from selected source countries and course programmes
Lesotho I
Swaziland ______o Commerce Zambia I DArts
DRC I I o Engineering 0 science Kenya m Other
Botswana I
Zimbabwe l ____
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Number of respondents
Source: Appendix 6
Of the three areas (Engineering, Sciences, and Commerce) where skills are most wanted in South Africa 74.3 per cent, 66.7 per cent and 60 per cent of the respondents from Zimbabwe, Kenya and Botswàna respectively are registered in these courses. There were also a substantial number of the respondents from DRC and Zambia enrolled in these critical programmes. These results helped capture some characteristics of international students in South Africa that no study has estimated before.
50 4.1.3 Legal personas of international students
The type of visas used by the international students describes the legality of their stay in South Africa. Appendix 8 shows that most respondents, 152 of them, are in South Africa under student permits. Only a few (14) were found to have refugee permits. The others, who were holders of either permanent residency, a diplomatic permit or on an exchange programme, were even fewer. Hence international students in South Africa are almost always in the country primarily for the purpose of studying. A small number, though, decide to pursue university education during their stay in South Africa after having come to the country for other reasons, such as, accompanying working parents, seeking refuge from conflicts in the source countries or working in South Africa.
4.2 Pull and push factors
Although some pull and push factors were discussed in Section 2.5 as being responsible for attracting international students to South Africa, their ranking in importance has never been determined by earlier research. This section attempts to determine the factors that are, responsible, to a greater extent, for the inflow of international students to South Africa. It emerged from the results that of all these factors, infrastructure ranks highest in importance, followed by the knowledge of people including family members and acquaintances in South Africa (see Figure 8).
Economic and political disruption in some source countries is also a significant push factor. An arrangement with the sponsor (mostly the home country government) and the low cost of study fees are moderately important contributing factors. The issue of seeking permanent residency in South Africa is apparently less significant. Some respondents who had "other" reasons indicated factors like "availability of donor funds", "followed a supervisor from one South African University to another", "lack of suitable programmes at home universities", and "lack of university places and high admission requirements at home universities".
The international recognition of institutions and degrees also seemed to be an important factor. Other respondents mentioned having initially come to participate in sporting
51 activities but later changed their minds to study. Most of these reasons are less significant and similar to the ones stated in Chapter 2.
Figure 8: Pull and push factors of international students to South Africa
60 55
50 - 4•j
o40— 34 CL 26 25— 30 - 19 15
E 10 - 5
0 - - -
Ib \Q I F I
Source: Appendix 9
Some issues emerged that are worth noting from this section:
• Although English language was stated as a factor that attracts international students to South Africa in Section 2.6, it was not considered so by any of the respondents. This supports the observation of the House of Commons (Section 2.4) that the influence of the English language in determining which countries and universities international students chose to go to is fast declining.
o The availability of supervisors for postgraduate programmes is influential in determining which institutions the postgraduate students chose to attend. Some postgraduate students are even willing to cancel their studies in midstream at a particular institution to follow their supervisors who have moved to other institutions. Others, who would like to study in certain institutions because of factors such as good infrastructure, or due to the social networks, would have to
52 register in the institutions where supervisors for their chosen programmes are available.
• It was indicated in Section 2.5 that the flow of international students to destination countries is defined by four patterns. These patterns are the mutual agreement imperatives, skills acquisition imperatives, revenue generating imperatives and international investment imperatives. It was explained that the skills acquisition imperative is adopted by the source countries that have inadequate or depleting skills. This they achieve by easing visa application procedures, marketing, offering scholarships and permanent residency to attract a large pool of international postgraduate students from whom to make the selection. However, in this survey, no respondent indicated that he/she was recruited for this purpose. Indeed, respondents indicated the funds to have come from South African firms rather than South African governments and universities.
• Although the South African universities seem to follow the revenue generating imperative, the results show a different pattern. In Section 2.5 it was discussed that universities that adopt this pattern often engage in marketing to attract a large number of fee-paying international students. Only one respondent indicated that she was recruited by NMMU personnel who were holding a Study South Africa marketing exercise in Malawi. This indicates that marketing is either not being done at all or its impact is insignificant.
• Mutual agreement imperative seems to be responsible for the flow of international students from Europe to South Africa, but not for the international students from Africa, unless such policies are contained in silent inter- governmental agreements accompanying scholarship packages.
• On the issue of university choice, a clear majority raised the importance of recommendation by friend, countrymen or family (Appendix 9). There is also significant number of cases where a home government or a sponsor mandates which university an international student attends, while other reasons are due to mutual agreement. As with the factors that make international students choose to
53 come to South Africa, social networks play a major part in determining at which South African HEI an international student registers.
From the above analysis a clear matrix of pull/push factors responsible for international students' inflow to South Africa and particular universities emerge. The relatively better infrastructure in South Africa and social networks driven by the recommendation of friends households/relatives or kin are leading factors followed by the mandate of the sponsoring government or another donor (availability of funds). Mutual agreements mainly shape the inflow of exchange students from some countries in Europe to South Africa. For postgraduate students, it could be added that the availability and relocation of programme supervisors in and between institutions is an important determining factor as to which university they would register with.
4.3 The cost and benefits of the inflow to South Africa
The benefits from the flow of international students to South Africa are derived from the inflow of foreign exchange for spending on food, tuition fees, entertainment and medical aid, among others. Other benefits are the skills diffusion by the international students in the local economy. These issues, except medical aid, were examined in Section 2.6.1 and they are further discussed in this section.
To determine the extent of spending benefits to South Africa, it was important to consider the source of funding of the international students: That is, to determine whether the funding of international students could be claimed to have originated from South Africa (university bursaries, South African government subsidy or funds from entities registered as South African) or from foreign sources. As shown in Appendix 10, it was established that most respondents are either self-sponsoring or are sponsored by the government of the source country. Those who indicated they were supported by funds from South African entities were few. Overall, 91 per cent of the respondents obtained funding from outside South Africa, representing a large inflow of foreign revenue, which is discussed in Section 2.4, as South Africa's export of higher-education services. The 9 per cent of the total international students' expenditure, which could be deemed to have originated from South African sources, would be deducted from the direct expenditure to determine the inflow of foreign revenue from international students.
54 It was also important to estimate the population of the international student at South African universities to be able to calculate the total expenditure effects. At the time of this study, the number of international students in South African universities for the 2008/9 academic year was 61 954. Almost 90 per cent of these students come from other African countries. As can be seen in Figure 9, this number continues the upward trend in international student enrolments.
The total number of international students at South African residential public universities in 2008, was 36 386 (this excludes 1 942 students for which information was missing, most of them likely to be international students). This number also excludes the small number of international students registered at private institutions (like Monash South Africa).
Figure 9: Total number of international students at public HEls in SA, 2000-2008
Source: Department of Education (2009)
Monash is currently the private institution with the largest number of international residential students. If the 1 625 international students at Monash South Africa are added, residential students total 38 011. This number was adopted as the population to calculate the total national expenditure of international residential students.
55 International students at UNISA alone were 25 568. To estimate the national expenditure impact, international students at UNISA had to be treated separately, because some of them study by distance-learning, which does not necessarily oblige them to stay in, or even enter, South Africa. More often than not, the students only pay module fees and not tuition fees. Giving them same treatment, as other students at residential universities, would inflate the results. However, to completely exclude them might lead to an underestimation of the spending impact given their large number. Hence, the study decided to include an estimate of study fees of international students at UNISA.
4.3.1 Skills profiles of the international students
The majority of the respondents were undergraduates enrolled for Bachelor's degree courses and a small portion were undertaking diploma or certificate courses (Appendix 7). A significant number were also undertaking postgraduate courses where the majority were in Master's programmes. Others were enrolled in Doctoral, Honour's, MTech or National Higher Diploma courses.
After classifying the programmes into the seven broad categories of Arts, Commerce, Engineering, Sciences, Education, Health Science and Law, it was clear that Commerce courses had the largest number of registered students, followed by Arts, Engineering and Sciences in all degree programmes. Very few respondents indicated that they were registered in Education, Law and the Health Sciences. Hence, due to the very low number of respondents registered in the latter three degree courses, they are referred to as "other" in the analysis contained in the figures in this chapter.
Amongst those who are enrolled in postgraduate programmes some had done their earlier degrees in South Africa. For the 34 students registered for Master's programmes, most of them have done at least one degree course in South Africa. For those doing PhD courses only 1 indicated he had not done any degree course in South Africa.
From the above analysis, three streams of skills' flows from international students in South Africa can be recognised. The students who are registered in Commerce,
56 Engineering and Science courses, whether at undergraduate or postgraduate level, have the potential to supply the very skills that are currently insufficient in South Africa. Those students who are enrolled in the postgraduate courses are already contributing to the creation of new knowledge in South Africa. Finally, those students who have been doing more than one degree in South Africa may have built up country-specific skills over the duration of their studies that could benefit South Africa's economy.
4.3.2 Skills infusion through employment
The possibility of some international students having some sort of employment while studying in South Africa was investigated. This was done with the knowledge of the immigration policy in South Africa that prohibits a foreign national from working and studying at the same time, but which allows for part-time work of 20 hours or less per week. The main thrust of this investigation was to determine whether international students have an opportunity to infuse their skills in the South African economy through employment. The mere fact that there are some international students, even as few as they are at present, who are employed in South Africa, indicates that they are already applying their skills, contributing to the tax revenue and boosting consumption expenditure in the economy.
The portion of international students' expenditure that is derived from being employed in South Africa and not part of foreign cash inflow can be determined from Appendix 14. Of the total respondents, only 25 per cent (46) of them have some sort of employment in South Africa. From the mean monthly salary of R5 090, the yearly income earned by these respondents is R(5090X46X12) = R2 809 680. This figure is not part of the revenue from trade in exporting education in South Africa.
4.3.3 Skills transfer by engaging with South African students
An attempt was made to find out the level of engagement between South African students and the international students in their academic life. As shown in Appendix 14, a clear majority of the respondents have had group study sessions that included South African students. This high degree of engagement of international and South African students shows that there are positive skills gains to and for either group.
57 The survey also prodded participants to divulge if, and to what extent, study group sessions that included South African students were beneficial. Some acknowledged that studying with their South African colleagues had exposed them to the South African culture as they had picked up a few words of the local languages. One student of journalism indicated she had benefited as her South African peers know the names of local politicians and always translated the South African languages when they went on community assignments. However, some felt they had contributed more, since they found their South African counterparts to be 'lazy" and often left them to do the bulk of the work. The majority lamented that most of the South African students tended to lose focus of the study goals and sometimes came to the study sessions having not prepared the work apportioned to them by the group. Some felt frustrated working with their South African colleagues as they came to realise "black South Africans are also racist and feel superior because we are in their country". It is interesting that some respondents expressed their experiences of xenophobia exhibited by their South African colleagues in this section, although there is a section in this chapter that investigated xenophobia. This shows that xenophobia in South Africa is a serious matter and ranks high in issues that most concern international students. A future study should research to what extent South African students consider their academic engagements with international students as beneficial.
4.3.4 Expenditure effects of international students
Living expenditure of international students
Before generalising, it is important to determine the similarities and differences in respondents' spending between universities to determine whether it is prudent to apply economic impact findings from either one university or many universities when conducting a study for the whole of South Africa. It is essentially looking for a way to test the equality of the means of total spending at the six universities by using variances. This can be determined by establishing between-groups (all the six universities) mean spending variances and within-groups (each university's) mean spending variances using one-way ANOVA.
58 Between-groups variation is the variation due to the interaction between the groups' means. lithe groups' means are close to each other, the variation will be small. If the "between" variance is smaller than the "within" variance, then the means are really close to each other and we may not reject the claim that they are all equal. If a decision is made to reject the null, then at least one of the means is different. The null hypothesis is that all sample means are equal while the alternative hypothesis is that at least one of the means is different. Inference for the variances in sample means is made by observing the p-value of the ANOVA test. If p-value<0.05 the null hypothesis is rejected and the conclusion is that the differences in mean spending for the six universities are too large and statistically significant to be ignored. If p-value>0.05, the alternative hypothesis is rejected.
Significant similarities in spending on phone calls, medical aid and entertainment were observed for all the six universities as shown in Table 4, and the alternative hypothesis was duly rejected. The similarities of the mean spending on medical aid could be attributed to the fact that international students mostly use the same medical aid companies [the majority (60%) of them are on lngwe Health Plan], settling for similar quotes, given that some of these companies specialise in the provision of medical aid services to international students.
Table 2: Statistically significant similarities in spending means across HEIs Item Degree of freedom Significance (p-value) Mean (amount per month) Phone calls F(5,1 55)= 1 .117 0.354 R270 Medical aid F(5,144)= 0.531 0.753 R326
Entertainment I F(5,139)= 0.949 0.451 R443 From Appendix 14
A similar conclusion can be drawn about phone calls, as there are only a few telephone companies in South Africa selling similar airtime vouchers and the respondents are normally distributed over the usage of the services provided by the phone companies at all the six HEIs. This implies that in future research, one need only to find information on these items at one university (or from a modal medical service provider such as lngwe Health Plan in this study) and apply it to all the other universities.
59 The above analysis has established that the universities have different variances for the means of certain categories of spending. However, the ANOVA does not tell us where the differences lie. A way is needed to figure out where the differences lie, not just that there are differences. Using Dunnett's T3 test it was determined which particular groups differ from the others amongst the 6 universities. Where p<0.05, the mean of a particular spending category in one HEI is dissimilar and statistically significant from the mean in the same category at other HEIs. The results of this test is summarised in Table 5. Significant differences in mean spending between universities in total spending, rent, food and transport within South Africa were observed.
Table 3: Statistically significant differences in spending means Item Highest mean Lowest mean p-values Total UCT R5 706 NMMU R3 738 0.018 Rent UJ R2476 NMMU Ri 720 0.012 Transport in SA UCT Ri 169 MSA R345 0.034 UCT Ri 169 NMMU R288 0.020 Food/groceries Wits Ri 216 NMMU R640 0.034 From: Appendix 14
A mixed-effects method was duly used in this research to analyse international student expenditures from each university and within the universities. An econometric panel data analysis could also be used to model inter-university international students' expenditure given the availability of data.
The relatively low spending amongst NMMU respondents could be due to the low cost of living around Port Elizabeth and Eastern Cape where the university is situated as judged from the mean spending on rent, food and transport within South Africa. The relatively high spending level amongst the respondents from UCT could be due to the high cost of living around Cape Town and the Western Cape. It could also be due to the fact that amongst of the respondents who indicated that they are employed, those from UCT earned the highest salaries, which increase their demand and change their tastes to more expensive goods.
60 The two previous studies on the impact of international students on South Africa were both conducted in the Eastern Cape (NMMU in 2004 and Rhodes University in 2005). Given that this study found the living expenses in NMMU (and maybe by extension, the Eastern Cape) to be the lowest amongst the six HEls, this may lead to unnecessary underestimation of the national expenditure impact of international students, as Snowball and Antrobus (2006) recognised. The findings from a single university and region can also not be generalised to a whole country.
To address this problem, this study surveyed institutions in four of the five largest host provinces. Based on the responses, the mean monthly living expenditure per category was calculated by province (see table 6). The mean for Gauteng is the average of the means for Wits, UJ and Monash. Western Cape was represented by UCT, Kwazulu- Natal by UKZN and Eastern Cape by NMMU. For the other provinces (Limpopo, North- West and Free State) the lower Eastern Cape mean was adopted.
The study adjusted some of the responses, where appropriate. In the case of necessities, such as food and rent, if a respondent did not provide a spending amount, the average amount for that category was allocated. Furthermore, unusually high expenditure on "rent" at UCT was noted and the value of the lower bound mean at 95% confidence interval was adopted instead.
Spending on medical aid is calculated separately because it is not a monthly living expense, but paid up-front as a lump sum. The low between-group variance implies that the overall mean of monthly spending can be used to calculate the annual lump sum —which comes to R3 912 per residential student (R326x1 2).
61 Table 4: Mean monthly spending per category by province Province Weight Rent Transport in SA Food Gauteng 31.8% 2064 665 983 Western Cape 23.7% 2 476 1169 1100 Kwazulu Natal 9.1% j 1 849 710 835 Eastern Cape 14.1% 1 720 288 640 Other provinces 21.3% 1 720 288 640 Weighted average (monthly) 2020 655 876 Estimate of annual amount 20 203 6 552 8759 From: Appendix 13
In order to obtain a national average of monthly living expenditure, a weighted average was calculated (using each province's share of international students in Table 1) for those items with too high between-group variance (see Table 6). The two monthly items with low between-group variance (phone calls and entertainment) is then added by taking their means as given in Table 4. This generated an average monthly amount of R4 264 per residential student. Since most of the respondents travel back to their home countries at least once a year during holidays, the monthly expenditure was multiplied by only 10 months to determine the annual living expenditure as R42643. Some respondents may remain in South Africa for the full 12 months per year, but this adjustment was done to avoid unintentionally inflating the expenditure estimate.
Tuition fees charged by the institutions to international students
The international tuition fees for 2008 at the selected universities, including Unisa, were estimated from the information available on the web pages of some universities (UCT, UKZN, NMMU, Wits, Unisa and MSA). UJ did not have the fee information on the web but it was available at the faculty offices and at the Student Finance Department of the university.
It was clear that there are wide differences between institutions, so no single institution's tuition fee could be taken as representative. At some institutions such as UJ, MSA and NMMU, international students are required to pay all fees in full prior to registration.
62 Moreover, depending on how the institution categorises students, all the institutions charge a premium above the tuition tees that South African students pay. Some institutions like UCT charge SADC foreign students the same fees as South African students. Exchange students pay higher tuition tees in most instances than local students or those from the SADC and the rest of Africa.
To calculate the average tuition fee per international student, the total revenue from international students from six selected residential universities, excluding Unisa, was calculated (using the published fee structures and total number of international students at each institution). This total revenue (R405 555 567) was then divided by the total number of international students at these institutions (15 276). This resulted in an estimated average annual tuition fee of R26 549 per residential student. Apart from paying tuition fees, international residential students also buy books and stationery. Only three institutions, Wits, UCT and UJ, gave an estimate of book and stationery expenditure per student as R5 500, R4 000 and R4 000 respectively. This study adopted the lowest estimate of R4 000 in keeping with the practice of maintaining conservative figures.
Unisa charges different fees according to level and degree programme. On average, an undergraduate register for three modules per year and for each module an international student is charged a fee of Ri 990 inclusive of an international levy of R330. This translates into a total cost of R5 970 for an undergraduate degree programme per year for an international student. Master's, doctoral and MBA students pay higher study fees of R7 820, R8 200 and R14 260 respectively.) Unisa further charges a matriculation exemption fee of R300 and a levy of R450 for additional study material. Since this study could not determine the number of international students registered in each programme, it adopted the lowest total fee of the three categories of R5 970 per student per year. On top of this, R450 for additional study materials and a Ri 00 exemption certificate fee (if the R300 exemption certificate fee is spread over three years) were added. This brings total estimated study fee at Unisa to R6 520 per international student per year which is added separately to the direct expenditure effects. In arriving at this figure, the study excluded library access fee of R45, SAQA levy of R3 780 for postgraduate students and the R660 levy of per module for non-African international students. This
63 helps to keep the estimated results conservative, but it is highly recommended that a future study should incorporate this information.
Return-trip to home country as source of revenue
Since it is difficult to determine the ownership of the vehicles plying the roads, only revenue from air transport was considered. Some taxis and buses could be owned by foreigners. Air transport is treated differently since even if some opt to fly foreign 2/3 airlines, they still pay airport tax (that sometimes amount to as high as of the price of the tickets). Moreover, many foreign internationals are from Africa where the SAA (South African Airlines) is dominant in the air transport industry. Yet still, the other foreign airlines have offices in South Africa where locals are employed and other expenditures, such as rent, tax and bills are incurred as well. In brief, the leakages from air transport are minimal and can be considered together with other import leakages accounted for in the expenditure multiplier.
Amongst the respondents, 72 of them travelled at least once per year by air to their home countries. To determine the revenue from air trips this was multiplied by the median airfare rate of R5 700 (as determined from the survey results) for a return trip. This worked out to a total of R5 700X72=R41 0 400. The median was used because it was the lowest measure of the central tendency in this item in order to keep the estimates conservative. This revenue was divided by the total number of respondents to obtain the average estimate of a return trip of a typical international student in South Africa, thus: R410400/181 R2 267.
To be realistic, most of the SADC students (who formed 69 percent of the respondents in this survey) often do not travel by air to and from South Africa. To exclude them, the R2 267 was further multiplied by 31 per cent (100 per cent minus 69 percent) to find a conservative estimate of air travel expenditure by an international student. This yielded R703 as the annual spending on the return trip to the source country by an international student.
64 Study permit and government revenue
The issuing and renewal of study permits is a source of revenue to the government. To estimate the amount of revenue the government has collected from the respondents, the total transactions (new applications and renewals) of the respondents was estimated to be 205 transactions per year. The estimation took into account mat sometimes respondents have to renew their permits up to four times during the period of their studies. If this total number of transactions is multiplied by the price of renewal/issuance, R425, a total sum of R87 125 is realised. To get an average cost per student this figure is divided by the number of respondents (181). This translates to R481 if distributed over the years the student has been in South Africa. If one assumes that an average student takes 3 years to complete a programme, then the average (481/3). yearly student expenditure on visa acquisition and renewals is about R160 This figure forms part of the expenses of a foreign student in South Africa.
Total expenditure determination
Total annual expenditure was determined by adding international students' direct expenditure to the indirect expenditure. Table 6 contains six main categories of international students' spending from which the direct annual total expenditure per international student was calculated. The major expenditure components are living expenses, tuition fees and stationery. Although spending on back-home yearly travel, visiting relatives' expenditure and visa applications were small, they, nevertheless, comprised important components of an international student's annual spending.
65 Table 5: Estimated annual direct expenditure by residential international students in South Africa (2008 ZAR) Monthly living expenses 42 643 Up-front living expenses (medical aid) 3 912 Tuition fees 26 549 Book and stationery 4 000 Return trip to source country (back-home) 703 Visiting relatives' expenses (secondary information) 200 Visa applications and renewals 160 Total 78 167 Source: Analysis of survey results, Snowball and Antrobus (2005)
The figure of R78 167, which was established as the total yearly direct spending of an international student, is higher than the R40 707 (of the Rhodes study) and the R57 000 (of the NMMU study). The reasons for this discrepancy are many. Inflation in South Africa, as measured by CPI, more than doubled from 1.4 percent in 2004 to 11.5 percent in 2008. This alone cannot explain the difference. Both the previous studies ignored some critical international student expenditures, such as annual expenditure on books and stationery, medical aid and visa application and renewal fees estimated here. Other components, related to international students, which were probably ignored by earlier studies, are the return trips to source countries and bribery (ignored in this study as well) for services obtained from public offices. These studies were also conducted in the Eastern Cape where the cost of living is lower.
Direct expenditure and foreign revenue receipts
The estimate of annual expenditure per international student (R78 167) was then multiplied by the population of registered international students (38 011) in South Africa (excluding Unisa) as determined in an earlier section. This resulted in direct expenditure of R2 971 204 818 in 2008. To this figure, R166 703 360 (R6 520X25 568) the estimated total international student study fees at Unisa, was added. Total direct expenditure by international students in South Africa then came to R3 137 908 178.
66 However, not all of this direct expenditure originates from overseas. Some of the foreign students are beneficiaries of scholarships and bursaries that originate from South African sources. As indicated before, some 9 percent of international students obtain South African funding. In keeping with maintaining conservative estimates, it is assumed that South African funding covers all of the expenses of these students, so 9% of the direct expenditure (R282 411 736) needs to be excluded. Also, some students are employed in South Africa and hence part of their direct expenditure, estimated to be R312 992 234, is financed by income obtained within South Africa, although it is in exchange for their skills and labour services. This is derived by multiplying the median annual earnings (R32 400) by the estimated number of working students ( 46/181 x38 011). The total deduction made from direct expenditure therefore works out to a total of R595 403 970, which can be termed as "funds from South Africa".
To determine the total amount that flows in as foreign revenue, funds from South Africa is deducted from the direct expenditure to obtain R2 542 504 208. This amount can also be said to represent South Africa's exports of university education. Although "funds from South Africa" do not originate from abroad, they nevertheless form part of the respondents' total direct expenditure in South Africa and therefore lead to growth of the indirect expenditure and the GDP, which would not have happened in the absence of these international students. Furthermore, due to restrictive South African policies on immigration, these opportunities are only extended to international students after all South African students have been considered, that is, they are allocated to international students on a marginal basis so that South African students are not displaced.
As established by this study, South Africa's earnings of foreign revenue of more than R2.5 billion in 2008 from the export of education is larger than the R1.7 billion a similar study at the NMMU found in 2004 (Snowball and Antrobus 2005). Apart from the reasons stated at the beginning of this section for the lower findings in earlier studies, other reasons are that the number of international students has increased from about 53 000 in 2004 to approximately 62 000 in 2008.
67 Indirect expenditure
The next step is to derive the indirect expenditure from the direct expenditure. This is based on the fact that the initial spending by the student (referred to here as direct spending) leads to induced and multiplicative expenditure by agents who benefit from the international students' expenditure. Economists have devised what is called regional economic multipliers to determine this additional expenditure. It was not the aim of this study to detail how a multiplier is derived but it is generally based on and inversely related to the leakages from the economy, such as imports, taxes and savings. The value of the multiplier usually lies between 1 and 2. A similar study in the UK used a multiplier of 1.5 (Vickers and Bekhradnia 2007). Black (1991) estimated regional multipliers for the former homelands that ranged between 1.3 and 1.7. A lower multiplier of 1.4 was used in this study to determine the indirect expenditure. This means that the direct expenditure leads to an addition of 0.4 of its own value to the GDP. Hence, the indirect expenditure, which in this case is 0.4 X R3 137 908 178= Ri 255 163 271, is added to the direct expenditure thus:
Total expenditure = direct expenditure + indirect expenditure = R4 393 071 449
This means that the presence of international students in South Africa contributed almost R4.4 billion to South Africa's GDP in 2008. This is still a small proportion of South Africa's GDP, but there exists enough capacity to expand this growth sector as has been done in other countries. To put it in perspective - the impact of international students in South Africa is somewhat smaller than South Africa's total wine exports (R4.7 billion in 2007). Not only is the impact felt in the growth of the GDP, but also in other areas of the economy like growth in skills, employment, enterprise and government revenue. In comparison to the countries that have created policies to facilitate inflow of international students, this figure is dismal. For, example Australia generated a foreign revenue amount of approximately R60.4b from export education in 2006. The UK, the second largest recipient of international students after the USA, received in excess of R100 billion in 2006 (Giles and Luxmoore 2007:4). When the 2008 figures from these OECD countries are available, they will be even higher. Ideally, international student movement into South Africa, which is part of the broader internationalisation of
68 university education, is a growth sector in itself, just like tourism, agriculture, energy, trade and transport, and should be treated as such.
4.4 Processes and experiences that may shape the future of international students' flow to South Africa
4.4.1 The university registration processes
Overall, 54.7 per cent of the respondents found the university registration process facilitative and normal (Appendix 17). The respondents from UJ and UCT who consider the registration process of the university difficult outnumber by a small margin those who consider the process normal or good. The greatest disapproval of the process is found amongst the UKZN respondents and the lowest amongst MSA and NMMU respondents. The following information could be gathered from this analysis:
There is a stark difference in how the respondents from MSA, a foreign and private university, rate the registration process, and how those from the public South African universities rate the process. This might be attributed to the still small number of students at MSA compared to the other South African universities. It could also mean MSA, a campus of Monash University from Australia, has imported improved administrative strategies from Australia, one of the popular destination countries for international students.
Also, MSA does not subject the international students to getting matriculation exemption from HESA (Higher Education South Africa) and SAQA (South African Qualification Authority). They already have the qualification criteria from all the countries of the world which they utilise for comparison with their admission requirements. This enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the administration processes: students do not need to travel to Pretoria for the validation of their certificates.
In Section 2.5, it was discovered that UJ has one of the least numbers of international students amongst the South African HEIs surveyed. This could partly be attributed to the difficulties ascribed to their problematic administrative processes as stated by the respondents in this section.
69
Figure 10: Respondents' views on university registration
7 UKZN 10
27 MSA 12
10 UCT 19 D Normal D difficult 20 NMMU i
113 Wits j12
uJ 11
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Number of respondents
Source: Appendix 17
This means that Wits, UJ, UCT and NMMU should still improve the administrative processes of the registration of international students. To attract and maintain a high inflow of international students over time, UJ and UKZN would have to improve on the registration processes of international students.
4.4.2 Choice of residence as shaped by administration of university residence
When the reasons behind respondents choosing to stay on or off campus were investigated, a majority of the respondents, 144 out of 181 citing convenience, comfort of living with relatives and friends prefer to live off campus. Others stated that accommodation is cheaper off campus; payment requirement for campus residence is unfavourable, while others cited the lack of accommodation on campus.
Of those who stated that the payment requirement of the university was not favourable, those registered at UKZN and UCT registered the most displeasure followed by MSA, NMMU and UJ. For those who cited lack of accommodation as reason they were residing off-campus, respondents from UJ were the majority followed by those from UKZN and MSA.
70 Figure 11: Reasons for choosing to reside oft campus
k. ow other liiiI_u.. 0 Wits -1 DNMMU 0 UCT Lack of accommodation on campus •MSA j I DUKZN Difficult applying for campus res each year
Unfavorable pay conditions for campus res
Cheap off-campus
Prefer off-campus
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Number of respondents
Source: Appendix 18
Of those who stated "accommodation is cheaper off-campus", MSA respondents were in the lead followed by the respondents from UJ, UCT and UKZN in that decreasing order. For those who indicated the difficulty and cost of moving to an off-campus residence, 100 per cent were from Wits.
From this analysis, the following information emerges; universities' policies on accommodation could be the reason most international students chose to stay off campus. Also, a lack of enough accommodation places, the difficulty of having to move out of campus residence during recess, the priority of accommodating South African students, and having to pay a full year's residence fee upfront, could be some of the reasons for UJ having the least number of the registered international students in South Africa.
71 4.4.3 Home Affairs Department and the renewal of visas
Respondents were asked to describe the process of renewing their study permits, and their views are illustrated in Appendix 10.1. Almost 50 per cent of the respondents described the process of permit renewal as normal and facilitative, while 40 per cent of them indicated it was either cumbersome or bureaucratic. 14.3 percent of the respondents did not commit to this query.
Ficiure 12: Resoondents' views on the renewal of study permit processes
UKZN
]16 MSA 8 10 UCT 18 o Difficult o Normal 113 NMMU Ii I
Wits 11 TJ 15 uJ 20
0 5 10 15 20 25 Number of respondents
Source: Appendix 14
When asked if they had been asked for any bribe or favours for the renewal of the study permit (appendix 10.2), a minority of 14 affirmed while a clear majority of 78 per cent stated they had not been asked for such favours. Of those who stated they had been asked for bribes, only ii stated the amounts they had parted with (see Appendix 10.3). The largest amount given was RiO 000 while the smallest amount, which was also the most commonly solicited bribe amount, was R100. The mean of the bribe was R3 109. The study decided that owing to the few respondents who indicated the bribe amounts and the very large maximum bribe and mean, the analysis of bribe effects would be misleading. Hence, it was decided to use any information on bribery claims as qualitative information only. Nevertheless, this seemingly split approval rate of the
72
processes at the Home Affairs Department, coupled with the apparent bribery claims, shows that it might hinder the internationalisation process of university education.
4.4.4 Respondents' experience with xenophobia
It was probed how frequently international students experienced racial prejudice, including xenophobia in South Africa. Of those who responded to this enquiry (Appendix 20 and Figure 14), at least 75 per cent of them had faced some form of xenophobia. When xenophobia was viewed across universities, the most and least occurring incidences were among the UKZN and MSA respondents respectively.
Figure 13: Whether and how respondents have experienced xenophobia in SA
UKZN FI I I
MSA oNer UCTl oYes Rarely oYes Sometimes NMMU I 1 o Yes Very often Wits V:l
UJ H I l
0 10 20 30 40 50 Number of respondents
Source: Appendix 20
When xenophobia was viewed according to the source country of the respondents, the scenario reflected in Figure 15 emerged. Xenophobia and racism seem to be more pronounced in the cases of DRC, Zimbabwe and Kenyan students, and least with Botswana, Swazi and Lesotho students.
The seemingly lower exposure of the Botswana, Lesotho and Swazi respondents to xenophobia may be attributed to close cultural affinity between the participants and the
73 South African nationals. In Section 2.5, it was also discovered that a cultural bias exists in South African xenophobia.
Since Zimbabwe, Kenya and DRC send some of the largest number of international students to study in South Africa, xenophobia would specifically hurt the future supply of students from these countries to South African universities, if the issue of xenophobia in South Africa remains unaddressed. The respondents from DRC (92.4 per cent), Zimbabwe (81.4 per cent) and Kenya (81.8 per cent) indicated the highest incidence of xenophobia.
Respondents from Zambia (77.7 per cent) have also significantly been victims of xenophobia. Given that most of the students from these countries are also registered in the key sectors of the economy where special skills are lacking, future effort to recruit students and skilled migrants from these countries in South Africa would be harmed.
Figure 15: Xenophobia and source country of the respondents
- - - 80% - - - -
0 Very often 60% ------o Sometimes - - aRarely 40% ------Q Never
20%M - - - -
Source: Appendix 20
Furthermore, although the ratio of respondents from Botswana (53.6 per cent), Swaziland (62.5 per cent) and Lesotho (67.7 per cent) who have experienced xenophobia in South Africa is relatively less than those from other countries, they still formed the majority of the respondents from those countries, suggesting that
74 xenophobia in South Africa is prevalent and practised by many of its nationals including the South African Police Service (SAPS) and students.
4.4.5 SAPS and law enforcement
On police treatment in applying or enforcing South African law (Appendix 21), 56, or 30.8 per cent, of the respondents to this question indicated they had been questioned, harassed or at least stopped by the South African police. Asked to elaborate further, many of the respondents, indeed 54 of them, described different ordeals at the hands of the police. The majority were stopped on the streets and asked to produce IDs or passports, and on failure to produce one they were arrested and spent time at the police cells. On many such incidences, the police even refused to acknowledge the authenticity of certified copies of the passports. One respondent stated the police branded him "illegal immigrant and Nigerian drug-dealer". Some police went to the extent of saying foreigners are here to take South African jobs and women. Some students were even asked when they would be going back to their country.
Moreover, some respondents stated that the police could tell by their looks and dress codes that they were not South Africans, and yet they almost always spoke to them in South African languages especially Zulu and Xhosa. It is hard to see how the SAPS would provide adequate protection to students and other immigrants in South Africa if they share and advance the views of some of the xenophobic South African populace already discussed above. Although it was not intended to investigate cases of xenophobia in this section, the subject intruded as some respondents narrated their experiences with the SAPS suggesting xenophobia ranks high as a problem to the international students in South Africa.
4.4.6 Experience with crime
As shown in Appendix 22, a small number (29 per cent) of the respondents stated they had been victims of crime in South Africa, while a majority (71 per cent) stated they had not experienced crime. Most cases of crime were reported by the respondents from UKZN (59 per cent) followed by those from UJ (51 per cent). There seems to be a marked improvement in crime statistics within the precincts of the universities. In
75
Section 2.6.3, a study conducted amongst international students in UJ in 2002 by Shindondola (2002:23) found that 72 per cent of the respondents had been victims of crime, much higher than the 51 per cent found in this study.
Figure 15: Respondents and their experience with crime in SA
TOTAL SA 52 I 129
UKZN 10
MSA 5 1 32 ___ oi Yes
UCT 3 17 IDNO NMMU 6 j 35
Wits 6 20
UJ 19 I 18
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% %Victim of crime
Source: Appendix 22
Respondents from other universities reported much lower incidences of being victims of crime in this study. The fewest cases were reported at MSA (80 per cent stated no encounter) and UCT (85 per cent also claimed no experience of crime). Crime seems to have been of less concern to the respondents than some practices of the police were.
Although the crime incidence is reportedly low, it is still an area where further improvement needs to be made. Like xenophobia, the incidence of crime in South Africa may hurt future prospects of international students' inflow into South Africa and some of the nationals of these countries may in future choose to pursue tertiary studies in other countries. Overall, the major concern for the international students is the high incidence of xenophobia in South Africa and the practices of the SAPS.
76 4.5 Future plans of the respondents
When the respondents were asked whether they intended to seek permanent residency in South Africa, a minority, but a significant proportion of about 38 per cent, stated they would like to acquire South African citizenship, while a majority of about 57 per cent stated that they were not interested (Appendix 23).
When this category was viewed across different countries, 40.9 per cent of Zimbabwean students indicated they intended to acquire permanent residency against 59.1 percent who indicated otherwise. Of the Botswana and Zambian students, 33 per cent intended to acquire permanent residency while 67 per cent were not interested. Of the Kenyan students, 44.4 percent intended to acquire it, Swazi students were evenly divided on the issue, while the majority of Lesotho students stated they intended to acquire permanent residency, while 33 per cent were not interested. Others from the DRC, 38.5 per cent, intended to acquire it while none of the five students from Europe intended to acquire permanent residency. This shows that many of the international students have the intention to settle permanently in South Africa to work, and the effort to recruit them in the South African economy would be successful as money spent on their education would return to South Africa in form of skills.
4.10 Conclusion
Most of the international students that were registered in South African HEIs in 2008 were mainly in the ages between 18 and 30. There were also a sizeable number of international students in the ages between 30 and 40. Almost 80 per cent of international students in South Africa are from Africa and principally from the SADC where Zimbabwe and Botswana are leading source countries. In total, there were approximately 59 233 international students in the public HEI5 alone, including UNISA in the 2007/8 academic year. This figure could have been higher if the international students in other private HEIs like MSA, Varsity College, Damelin, Midrand University and many others had been considered. From 2000 until 2007, there had been a growth of 33 per cent in the numbers of international university students in South Africa.
77 Most of the students chose to come to study in South Africa because of the good study facilities and infrastructure, network support and because scholarships, which mainly came from the source country government, were available. Others came because of the quality of the programmes and the international recognition of the degrees they expect to obtain. Moreover, others came because of lack of enough places, suitable programmes and high admission requirements in their home countries. Some came to South Africa to escape political and economic disruptions in their source countries, or to use education in South Africa for a chance of getting work at the end of their studies. A small number chose to study in South Africa because parents were working here or it was near to their source country.
The choice of universities by the international students is mainly based on the knowledge of friends, relatives, and kin in South Africa who recommended particular universities, or by donor dictum. Others in the postgraduate programmes made the choice to reconnect with a particular supervisor, or the unavailability of supervisors in some institutions on certain courses was also a choice factor. Other choices are determined by the availability of certain programmes.
UCT by far still attracts most of the international students to South Africa. Wits, UKZN and NMMU are also significant destinations. UJ is still registering low numbers of international students although its record has improved slightly over the year of 2006.
The direct student expenditure was approximately R3 billion. Contribution in terms of an infusion of foreign revenue was substantial: approximately R2.6 billion in direct spending by international students in tuition fees, personal spending and administrative entered South Africa in 2008. Added together with its induced effects, this creates a perfect growth sector contributing to around R4.4 billion together with the growth of enterprise and jobs. The part of the direct expenditure that flows in as foreign revenue plays a vital role in supporting the value of the Rand. Already a small number of the international students are working in part-time and fulltime capacity for those with permanent residence, thereby contributing in taxes and skills to the economy. Quite a large portion is within postgraduate programmes and is a life blood for research undertakings in these institutions.
78 It is important to restate that the spending pattern of international students varies according to the location of the university, with universities in the Eastern Cape registering relatively low living cost as compared to the universities in the Western Cape and Gauteng. There is also marked differences in the amounts of the fees charged by universities. Wits, UCT and MSA charge relatively higher fees as compared to UJ, UKZN and NMMU. This heterogeneity in spending and fees charged by the universities should be considered when estimating the financial effects of international students in South Africa.
Most of the international students are registered in the Commerce and Arts courses. A large number is also registered in the Sciences and Engineering programmes. If Sciences, Engineering and Commerce courses are combined, a clear majority of the international students are found to be registered in these programmes. Also a sizeable number of international students are enrolled in postgraduate programmes where they might be helpful in sustaining research activities of those universities. This could be an answer to the skills shortfall in South Africa.
In their interactions with the South African students, the majority felt that most of the South African students are lazy, unfocused and contribute little in group studies. Some who felt they benefitted from South African students indicated such benefits were limited to knowing about culture, languages and their way around. Yet some felt that their South Africa students looked down upon them as foreigners, providing further evidence of xenophobia.
Concerning administrative processes such as encounters with the SAPS, visa applications, and universities' administrative processes, the experiences of these students were not encouraging. Those who had been stopped by the South Africa police report being asked about their identity documents, called foul names, being asked when they would go back to their home countries. This were the same things that ordinary South Africa citizens would ask them, confirming a presence of xenophobia which was also investigated and reported as being rampant. Some had been locked up in police custody for not producing identity documents while others had been forced to pay bribes. Xenophobia is commonplace in South Africa but most pronounced on the UKZN and UJ campuses. Xenophobia is mostly directed at students from countries,
79 such as, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe or the DRC with little cultural affinity with South African's black communities. It remains the biggest threat, ahead of SAPS practices, to the continued inflow and benefits of international students to South Africa.
Crime seems to have eased somewhat, although it still remains as one of the leading concerns of international students. At the Immigration offices, the majority of the respondents considered the visa renewals processes to be normal, yet many still consider the process cumbersome. However, some students state that they go out of their way to submit to solicitations for bribes by the immigration services.
Students are almost evenly divided in the way they consider the university administration as helpful. Only in MSA do they view registration processes as simple, helpful and facilitative. AT UJ, by a small margin, the students view registration process as complicated and bureaucratic. At UJ, they also fault the manner residences are allocated: they don't consider special circumstances of international students needing to stay over holidays, wanting to be given priority of allocation or experiencing difficulty of having to pay the whole years' tuition and residence fees upfront. Currently, the UJ policy is that South African students enjoy priority and all residences are cleared for the December to January holidays. At MSA, students felt that there were not enough accommodation places for all students and the price for accommodation was also high. Because of these difficulties and other personal reasons, international students preferred to stay off campus in all of the six institutions.
In some institutions like UCT, Wits and NMMU, international students from the SADC countries pay the same tuition fees as the South African students. Other institutions such as UJ, Wits, MSA and UKZN charge administration fees to all international students including those from the SADC. Some South African institutions and firms extend scholarships to international students registered in postgraduate programmes, but because all the universities did not make this information available, the depth and impact of such scholarships could not be determined. It seems there is no national policy on financial support for international students. Each university may fund international students according to the discretion of some departmental heads or fund managers at these institutions.
80 Chapter 5: Concluding remarks, recommendations and future research
At the beginning of this dissertation it was stated that student and skilled worker mobility internationally has increased significantly, and more so in the last two decades. It was also discovered that most of the flow is from the developing countries to the developed ones. However, there is also some movement between the developing countries and sometimes from developed to developing countries. The research noted increased international students' flow from Africa, more so from the SADC member countries, to South Africa. It was noted that the quality of programmes, good infrastructure, and use of the English language enhance the movement of international students to the destination countries. These same reasons are also behind the movement of international students to South Africa from other African countries. Moreover, countries that have noticed the importance in export education have adopted policies to increase it. In South Africa, the benefit of international students' inflow seems to be understood and acknowledged to a lesser extent. Much of the debate about the influx is not informed by a sound policy, or solid facts and data; it has mainly been based on pronouncements by politicians and opinion leaders. It was against this backdrop that this research set out to determine the economic impact of international students on South Africa. The following objectives guided this research.
• Determining whether economic theory and empirical work exist that could adequately explain the movement of international students to South Africa. • Identifying the main factors that attract international students to South Africa. • Establishing the benefits and costs of international students in South Africa. • Investigating to what extent South African immigration policies, public mood, the universities' admission requirements and regulations shape the inflow and long- term prospects of international students. • Exploring future plans for these students.
A detailed methodology was designed to address certain aspects of international students in South Africa that have not been adequately addressed by the available literature, such as the financial effects, skills effects, age, source country and university characteristics. Most of the earlier studies seemed to have ignored vital components of
81 the international spending in South Africa, such as medical aid, visa applications, transport and stationery which made expenditure estimates from such studies unrealistically low. For example, how could a study fail to incorporate spending on medical aid when students' immigration policy states clearly that no international student would be registered without having medical aid cover? Furthermore, the policy stipulates that such medical aid covers must be from South African companies. Also, the international students are widely spread over the South African universities and their spending pattern was found not to be similar. Previous studies did not take this into account. Moreover, the earlier studies were done more than four years ago and hence could be considered to have become outdated.
From the nature of these inquiries, it was necessary to use a mixed method survey, both qualitative and quantitative, of international students and the university administrations. The international students were surveyed through a questionnaire using snowball sampling, while the universities were questioned by means of semi- structured interview schedules. Quantitative analysis allowed for generalisations to be made from the data of the sample to the universe (the entire international students in South Africa). These were applied where precision in numbers for statistical consideration was required. Qualitative techniques assessed the information-rich answers specific to certain features of particular international students and not of others. The dissertation was organised into five chapters.
Chapter 2 discussed the literature review where the definition of international students in South Africa was determined. It described the immigration of international students as a movement, classified any foreign born as a non-South African citizen although policy treats them otherwise. The main theories of international migration were discussed and classified into two categories: those that explain the initiation of migration and those that explain its continuity. The neo-classic economic theory of international immigration and the new economics of international migration were found to provide explanations for the initiation of migration and the continuation of international migration respectively. On the benefits of international migration, a welfare distribution model indicates that, after immigration, wages and employment for natives would fall while productivity in South Africa would increase. However, this is mainly found to hold in the case of unskilled migrants. For skilled migrants, apart from productivity gains in South Africa, the
82 marginal product of labour would increase by a large margin owing to knowledge creation, skills development and innovation. A third model which was used is one of the open market dynamics and it showed how South Africa would benefit by tapping the revenue from exports of university education which would also strengthen the value of the Rand. This export revenue is derived from the international students' total expenditure on: yearly living expenditure; yearly tuition fees; yearly book and stationary expenditure; expenditure of the annual return trip to source country; money spent by visiting relatives and the cost of visa applications and renewals among others. It was further realised that countries and universities position themselves to benefit more from the international students' inflow by creating suitable international education policies such as the easing of immigration procedures, marketing and funding for international students.
The result of this survey was discussed in Chapter 4 which found that from a single- source-country perspective, Zimbabwe sends most of the international students to South Africa. Other important source countries are Botswana, Kenya, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland. Even when the economic sectors of South Africa where skills are most wanting are considered, a clear majority of the international students are still from Zimbabwe. Kenya and Botswana also have many of their nationals registered in the courses critical to South Africa. There were also a substantial number of the respondents from DRC and Zambia enrolled in these critical programmes. On a regional basis it was found that 69 per cent of the respondents were from the SADC region, a sampling identical to what other studies had estimated meaning that the pattern of the flow has not changed.
The survey also found that most of the international students in South Africa are attracted mainly by the quality of the Infrastructure, or are pushed to come to South Africa by economic and political disruptions in some source countries. Knowledge of relatives and friends from the source countries who are already in South Africa helps to perpetuate this inflow suggesting that an intricate network of international students' movement has taken root in South Africa. Also, significantly important in propelling the inflow is the arrangement with the sponsor (mostly the home country government) who provide education funds. The choice of university is facilitated mainly by networking with friends, family, kin, quality and availability of certain programmes. Others at the
83 postgraduate level make their choices of universities based on the availability of supervisors who sometimes switch employment between universities. A home government or sponsor may also mandate which university a beneficiary of such funds attend. Other less significant but important reasons are due to mutual agreements (exchange students) lack of admission places or suitable programmes at home universities. There was no indication that the inflow has been as a result of marketing by the universities or recruitment firms or as a result of the government giving subsidies to those students in the postgraduate programmes. The large inflow of international students seems to be as a result of the huge demand of university education in the source countries of Africa.
This increased inflow of international students has resulted in a significant inflow of foreign revenue from the spending of these students, which was found to be over R2.6 billion. Together with its induced effects of approximately R1.3 billion, the direct expenditure, approximately R3 billion, of international students in South Africa contributed to the GDP in excess of R4.3 billion. Most international students finance their own studies. The government of the home country sponsorship is also a significant source of study funds to some international students. South African companies and other private sponsors form a very small portion of the source of study funds.
Different universities charge different and largely varying amounts of study fees. There is also a difference in how the international students from SADC and non-SADC countries pay fees in some universities. At the University of Cape Town and Wits, international students from SADC member countries pay the same tuition fees as South African students. Also, at Wits postgraduate international students pay the same fees as SADC students. At the University of Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, all international students pay a premium over the tuition fees paid by the South African students, and exchange students pay even more. On financial support to postgraduate international students, different universities have limited and ad-hoc funding policies for international students. Departmental heads and universities' programme fund managers may use their discretion to extend funding to postgraduate international students. Hence the impact of financial support to international students is difficult to determine as the universities find it hard to determine how many international students benefit or how much funds they grant to international students.
84 The majority of international students are on medical aid. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University students proved to be particularly compliant with this requirement. This has led to a profitable business and job opportunities as several medical service companies led by lngwe Health Plan emerge to provide such services. Prosperity and Discovery are other major medical aid providers. Several business opportunities have also emerged from the property-letting business to these international students, the majority of whom live off campus.
More than 70 per cent of the international students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, are registered in the scarce skills areas of Commerce, Science and Engineering, such that they can be tapped to fill the skills gap in South Africa. Moreover, more than 80 per cent, of these students are between 18 and 29 years. Although there are already mechanisms for enabling international students from these programmes to acquire work permits, such policies are bogged down by stringent regulations to the extent that it does not facilitate the smooth allocation of skilled labour for these students to the firms. For example, on one hand, the Home Affairs Department requires that an applicant show proof of offer of employment to get a work permit while on the other hand the employers demand proof of a work permit before they can offer employment. In such a situation a prospective applicant is caught up in a vicious cycle of policy constraint. For permanent residency, it is even more difficult as the applicant must have worked in South Africa for the past 5 consecutive years before application, and must have published at least two articles in recognized journals etc. Nevertheless, the mere fact that a few students are employed indicates that they are applying their skills in the economy of South Africa and contributing in tax and expenditure. Also, the majority had had a group study session that included South African students and quite a good number felt it was beneficial as they had learned about some of the South African culture and geography. Since group studies are always arranged for mutual benefit, it is an indication that certain skills are imparted to their South African colleagues as well. However, other international students who have participated in such group studies felt their South African counterparts are "lazy", tend to lose focus and always let them do the bulk of the work and sometimes turn xenophobic towards them.
85 Many of the international students chose to live off campus owing to a number or reasons. Many international students cite convenience or comfort of living with relatives and friends. Others find accommodation cheaper off campus; an unfavourable payment requirement for college residence is the reason behind their decision and the lack of accommodation on campus. The international students from University of Johannesburg and University of Kwa Zulu Natal, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and Monash South Africa in particular stated that the payment requirement of the university is not favourable. The University of Johannesburg international students also cited lack of accommodation as the reason they are residing off-campus and so also were University of Kwa Zulu Natal and Monash South Africa students. About 47 per cent of Monash South Africa students find accommodation to be cheaper off-campus. Wits students cited the difficulty and cost of moving out of the campus residence during recess.
Approximately half of the international students consider the process of permit renewal as normal and facilitative. Forty per cent find it either cumbersome or bureaucratic. A small portion of the international students claim to have been asked for and to have paid bribes to renew their study permits. On police treatment in applying or enforcing the South African law some 31 per cent of the international students have been questioned, harassed or at least stopped by the South African police. The majority were stopped on the streets and asked to produce identification documents or passports, and on failure to produce one they were arrested and incarcerated in police cells. In many such cases, the police even refused to acknowledge the authenticity of a certified copy of the passports. It also appears the police are generally xenophobic as well as being uncivil in discharging their duties by launching tirades at the people they have taken into custody. Xenophobia is widespread and 75% of the international students have experienced it in various forms. Xenophobia and racism seem to be more pronounced when aimed at the Zimbabwean and Kenyan students, and least towards Botswana, Swazi and Lesotho students. This may be attributed to close cultural affinity between the South Africans and their counterparts from Botswana, Lesotho, and Swazi. About 30 per cent of international students have been victims of crime in SA. Leading cases of reported crime victims are concentrated around University of Kwa Zulu Natal and University of Johannesburg. The least cases were reported in Monash South Africa and University of Cape Town.
86 It was found that about 50 percent of the international students in South Africa still intended to remain and work in South Africa in the long term. This would be important to South Africa, as these students have acquired country-specific skills during their stay and their long term stay would constitute a steady contribution to the economy.
The general conclusion made in this dissertation is that the quality of infrastructure in South Africa has resulted in a large and increasing inflow of students from other African countries. The ensuing inflow has been sustained through the activities of networks based on kin, acquaintance and source country governmental support of the international students. This has resulted in a large inflow of foreign revenue and growth of employment and income in South Africa. Although the revenue from the inflow of international students in South Africa is impressive, it is still very low compared to what the other countries such as the USA, UK and Australia receive from such inflows to their countries. Other benefits are that the presence of international students could give a boost to the skills shortage in South Africa. Such benefits from the international students' inflow to South Africa have the capacity to be increased further, but lack of proper policy that would facilitate such inflow bogs down the process. A further obstacle is certain administrative processes and practices encountered in South Africa. These include visa application difficulties, university registration bureaucracy, police behaviour, crime and xenophobia in South Africa. The dissertation makes the following recommendations.
Recommendations to the South African government
Because the inflow of international students brings many benefits to South Africa, to the extent that it could be considered as a growth sector (in GDP, enterprise and job growth), it requires more effort by the South African government to enhance and stabilise the increased inflow of international students. Whatever the government spends on these students is an investment with assured positive returns. The following are some of the areas that the government could act on towards encouraging further inflow of international students:
• Support international students by devising a national policy of funding, especially for postgraduate students, to attract and retain the most qualified among them.
87 • Improve immigration processes. Making it easy for those in the programmes with the necessary skills to acquire permanent residency or work permits. Adopting immigration policies that facilitate entry, the right political mood, work rights and the prospect of obtaining permanent residence. The policy constraint that hinders the employment of skilled international students after their graduation needs to be removed.
• Provide sensitivity and refresher training courses for members of the police force to encourage them to become civil in discharging their duties. If necessary, they should be sent for training in other African countries to gain exposure and learn how foreign nationals should be treated. Upgrade the systems of operations at police departments: those in the field should have an electronic database of all the registered international students so they are able to check on-the-spot or at least at the police stations if the arrested students are bona-fide.
• Streamline and decentralise the accreditation processes at SAQA and HESA by transferring some of its functions, such as verification of certificates from other countries, as is done at Monash, to the universities. This would increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the registration process at the universities.
• Coordinate various and similar processes of different departments concerning immigration, education and universities that have overlapping roles.
Recommendations to the universities
Due to the large fixed costs involved in providing education and the continued efforts by universities to attract international students, it is likely that international students have a neglible marginal cost. Combined with the fact that they pay a premium over the fees charged at the South African HEIs, it would be profitable for universities to:
88 • Expand marketing in other African countries to increase both the quality and quantity of international students. Initiate exchange programmes with other universities in Africa including within South Africa.
• Provide financial assistance to postgraduate students and admit them into the funding programmes, like the NRF, to facilitate their contributions in research and knowledge creation, given that they are a lifeline to certain programmes at the universities.
• Improve the university registration processes. Consider giving preference to international students when it comes to accommodation to keep them separate from other South African nationals in the neighbourhoods of universities where they are prone to xenophobic attacks, crime and police excesses.
• Coordinate to a greater extent with the Home Affairs Department to facilitate the visa renewal processes, especially when it comes to the availability of the entry forms. It is expensive and inefficient for international students to travel to the immigration offices to obtain visa renewal forms and then take the same forms to the universities to be signed by the relevant universities' authorities before returning them to the immigration offices. It would be easier if the forms were available, either online or at the international offices of the universities.
Limitations of the research
The first difficulty that the research faced was the cost of carrying out an extensive survey at six universities. The researcher relied on the networks of other international students at the universities to collect the data from the field. However, this proved difficult in the case of UKZN and UCT, as some of the survey results that were defective could not be redeemed and had to be discarded. This led to under-sampling from these universities.
Time was also a critical constraint considering that some institutions were reluctant to give permission for conducting research, or to provide certain information, some of
89 which they considered confidential. The supervisor and the author tried to convince them to grant the necessary permission or to divulge the required information, but this too failed to bear any positive results. The researcher finally decided to abandon the search for permission and surveyed the students from reluctant universities off campus. Other information about these universities, pertaining to tuition fees and accommodation fees, was able to be accessed from their websites. The researcher also tried to obtain as much information as possible from the available literature.
The narrow scope of the study was imposed by the limitation of the study being a mini- dissertation, which also lacked a methodology to estimate the cost that universities incurred when they provided educational services to international students. This cost is difficult to disaggregate from the other universities' costs as the service is usually shared with the South African students. Moreover, this sort of service is of a non-rival nature as its utilisation by foreign students does not reduce the share of the same to South African students.
Future research
• The impact of the movement of capital or investments (FDI) into South Africa has not been investigated although it is a part of the internationalization of university education. The other is the movement of international students, which was investigated in this dissertation.
• An econometric model using panel data could be used to analyse the heterogeneity of international students' spending between the universities.
• The modular course system at UNISA is atypical to the normal tuition system in other universities. Its economic impact should be investigated using a different methodology and the results incorporated in the overall economic impact of international students on South Africa.
• The alleged lack of focus and laziness of the South African university students should be investigated. In a future research on the movement of international
90 students, the South African students should also be surveyed to seek their views on what they think of the international students.
• Due to some variances in spending between universities, the results of the study could be improved if more universities are surveyed and if the size of the sample (181 in this study) is increased.
• This study could be extended to larger sample involving most or all of the universities in South Africa.
91 References
Antecol, H., Cobb-Clark, D. A. & Trejo, S. J.. (2003). Immigration Policy and Skills of the Immigrants to Australia, Canada and the United States. The Journal of Human Resources: Vol. XXIX, Iss. 1, PP. 192-218.
Baines, G. (2004). On Being a South African Ambassador on an American Campus. International Education: Vol. 34, Iss. 1, pp. 29-34.
Bhorat, H. & Hodge, J. (1999). Decomposing shifts in labour demand in South Africa. The South African Journal of Economics: Vol. 67 Iss. 3, pp. 155-168.
Bhorat, H. Meyer, J-B & Mlatsheni, C. (2002). Skilled Migration from Developing countries: Study on South and Southern Africa. International Migration Papers NO. 52, International Labour Office, Geneva.
Black, P. A. (1991). Homeland multipliers and the Decentralization policy. South African Journal of Economics: Vol. 59, Iss. 1, pp. 36-44.
Borjas, J. G. & Bronars, S. G. (1987). Immigration and the Family. Journal of Labour Economics: Vol. 77, Iss. 4, pp. 531-553.
Borjas, J. G. (1989). Economic Theory and International Migration. International Migration Review. Vol. 23 Iss. 3, pp. 457-485.
Borjas, J. G. (1994). The Economics of Migration. Journal of Economic Literature: Vol. XXXII, Iss. December 1994, pp. 1667-1717.
Borjas, J. G. (1995). The Economic Benefits from Migration. Journal of Economic Perspectives: Vol. 9, Iss.2, pp. 4-22.
Borjas, J. G. & B. Bratsberg. (1996). Who leaves? The outmigration of the foreign-born. Review of Economics and Statistics: Vol. 78, Iss.1, pp. 165-176.
92 Boswell, C. (2002). Addressing the causes of migratory and refugee movements: the role of the European Union. New Issues in Refugee Research Working Paper No. 73. Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy, University of Hamburg, Germany
Bratsberg, B. (1995). Legal versus Illegal U.S. Immigration and Source Country Characteristics. Southern Economic Journal: Vol. 61, lss. 3, pp. 715-727.
Castles, S. & Miller M. J. (2003). The age of migration. The Guildford Press, London.
Chang, S. L. (1992). Causes of Brain Drain and Solutions: The Taiwan Experience. Studies in Comparative International Development Vol. 27, Iss. 1, pp. 27-44.
Crush, J & Williams, C. (2005). International Migration and Development: Dynamics and Challenges in South and Southern Africa. UN/POP/MIG/05.
De Vos, A. S. Strydom, H. Fouche, C. B. & Delport, C. S. L.. (2006). Research at grass roots: For the social sciences and human services professions. Van Schaik Publishers, Pretoria.
Department of Education, 2008. Student Summary Report for 2007. Obtained via email from Jean Skene (Director: HEMIS), National Department of Education: Pretoria. 3 May 2008.
Friedberg, R. M. & Hunt, J. (1995). The impact of immigrants on host country wages, employment and growth. Journal of Economic Perspectives: Vol. 9, lss. 2, pp. 23-44.
Funkhouser, E., & Ramos, F. A. (1993). The Choice of Migration Destination: Dominican and Cuban Immigrants to the Mainland United States and Puerto Rico. International Migration Review. Vol. xxxviii, Iss. 3, pp. 537-556.
Gera, S., & Songsakul, T. (2005). How is Canada taring in the competition for internationally mobile high skilled workers? Paper presented to the Canadian Economics Association Meetings.
93 Giles, J. & Luxmoore, G. (2007). Brisbane, City of Education: Economic impact of International Students. Brisbane
Hall, M. (2004). The importance of internationalization for higher education. International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA), Cape Town University.
Hawthorne, L. (2005). "Picking Winners": the Recent Transformation Australia's Skilled Migration Policy. International Migration Review. Vol. 39, lss. 3, pp. 663-697.
House of Commons. (2007). The future sustainability of the higher education sector: international aspects. Eighth Report of Session. Vol. 1. lss. 8. pp. 4-18.
IEASA, (2004). Study abroad, a global phenomenon: Study South Africa- the guide to South African higher education, available from: httix//www.studysa.co.zalieasa.html (Accessed March 12 2007).
Jennissen, R. (2004). Macro-economic determinants of international migration in Europe. Dutch University Press, Amsterdam
Jokvirta, L. (2006). Foreign Higher Education Activity in Francophone Africa. New York: World Education News and Review. Vol. 19, Iss. 2, p. 1.
Kanjanapan, W. (1995). The immigration of Asian Professionals to the United States: 1988-1990. International Migration Review Vol. XXIX, Iss. 1, pp. 7-32
Lamont, J. (2001). Shortage of skills will 'curb growth in South Africa'. Financial Times, November 3, London. Available from http://www.procluest.umi.com/cs-support.htmI (Accessed March 13 2007).
Larsen, K., & Vincent-Lacrin, S. (2004). Internationalisation of higher education. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Observer, Paris.
Le, T. A. (2000). The Determinants of Immigrants Self-employment in Australia. International Migration Studies: Vol. 34, Issi, pp. 183-214.
94 Lulat, G-M. & Cordaro, J. (1984). International Students and Study-Abroad Programs: A Select Bibliography. Comparative Education Review and International Education Society, University of Chicago Press.
Mankiw, N. G., (2004). Principles of economics. Thomson, South-Western, Ohio.
Massey, D. S. (1988). Social Structure, Household Strategies and the Cumulative Causation of Migration. Population Index: Vol. 56, Iss. 1, pp. 3-26.
Massey, D. S. (1990). Social Structure, Household Strategies, and the Cumulative Causation of Migration. Population Index, Vol. 56, lss.1, pp. 3-26.
Massey, D. S., & Espinosa, K. E. (1997). What's Driving Mexico-U.S. Migration? A Theoretical, Empirical and Policy Analysis. American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 102, Iss. 4, pp. 939-999.
Massey, D. S., Taylor, J. E., Pellegrino, A., Kouaouci, A., Hugo, G. & Arango, J. D. S. (1993). Theories of International Migration: A Review and Appraisal. Population and Development Review. Vol. 19, Iss.3, pp. 431-466.
Massey, D. S., Taylor, J. E., Pellegrino A., Kouaouci, A., Hugo, G. & Arango, J. D. S. (1998). Worlds in Motion: Understanding International Migration at the end of the Millennium. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Monash financial information, Undergraduate Guide 2008, also available on the Internet and accessed on 20) October 2008 at: http://www.monash.ac.zalfees .
Mutula, S. (2002). E-learning initiative at the University of Botswana: challenges and opportunities. Campus-Wide Information Systems: Vol. 19, Iss. 3. pp. 11-99.
Neuman, W. L. (2003). Social research methods: qualitative and quantitative approaches. Pearson Education incorporation, Boston.
95 NMMU 2008 Finance Guide available on the Internet source and accessed on 26 July 2008 at: http://www.nmmu.ac.zaldefault
OECD. (2004). Internationalisation and Trade in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges. OECD, Paris.
Ozden, C. & Schiff, M. (2006). International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire.
2nd Pallant, J. (2005). SPSS Survival Manual, ed. Open University Press, New York.
Ramphele, M., Crush, J.S., & McDonald, D. (1999). Immigrants and education: International Students at South African Universities and Technikons. SAMP Migration Policy Series 12. Cape Town: Idasa.
Roy, S. A. (1997). Job Displacement Effects of Canadian Immigrants by Country of Origin and Occupation. International Migration Review. Vol. 31, Iss. 1, pp. 150-161.
Saghafi, M. M. (2001). Impact of international Business Education on Ethnocentricity. Journal of Teaching in International Business: Vol. 12, Iss. 4, p. 63.
Schaeffer, P. (2005)._Human Capital, Migration Strategy, and Brain Drain. The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development. Vol. 14, Iss. 3, pp. 319-335.
Shimer, R. (2001). Comments and Discussion. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity: Vol. 2001, Issi, pp. 120-133.
Shindondola, H. K. (2002). Xenophobia in South Africa: the views, opinions and experiences of international students at the Rand Afrikaans University. A dissertation submitted at Rand Afrikaans University in part-fulfilment for the degree of Masters of Arts. Snowball, J.D. & Antrobus, G.G. (2005). The Economic impact of Rhodes University students on the Grahamstown economy. The International Office, Rhodes University, Grahamstown.
Snowball, J. D. & Antrobus, G. G. (2006). Is economic impact a good way of justifying the inclusion of foreign students at local universities? South African Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 20, Iss. 3, pp. 168-181.
Stark, 0. (1995). Return and Dynamics: the Path of Labour Migration when Workers Differ in Their Skills and Information is Asymmetric. Scandinavian Journal ol Economics: Vol. 77, Iss. 1, pp. 55-71.
Stark, 0. & Taylor, J. E.. (1993). Migration Incentives, Migration Type and the Role of Relative Deprivation. The Economic Journal: Vol. 101, Iss. 408, pp. 1163-1178.
Stevens, R. (2006). Working Together for Export Education. Ministry of Education New Zealand: Auckland, Immigration Conference Centre.
Taylor, J. E., Pellegrino A., Kouaouci, A., Hugo, G., Arango, J. & Massey, D.S. (1996). International Migration and National Development. Population Index: Vol. 62, Iss. 2, pp. 182-212.
Teferra, D. (1997). Brain Drain of African Scholars Studying in the United States. International Higher education: Vol. 7, Iss. 2, p. 1.
UN. (2004). Economic Impacts of International Migration. World Economic and Social Survey, Department of Economic and social Affairs: United Nations, New York.
University of Cape Town financial information of prospective students available on the Internet, accessed on 23 September 2008 at: http://www.uct.ac.za/apply/funding/underciraduate/financial
University of Johannesburg. (2008). Student Fees Booklet. Available at Student Finance Offices.
97 University of Johannesburg. (2007). International Relations Divisions Newsletter.
University of Kwa Zulu Natal. Students' fees guide for 2008. Available on the Internet, accessed 12 October 2008 at: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/prospective/2008/LOCA/FEE/BOOKLET.Pdf
Van den Berg, H. (2004). International economics. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York.
Vertovec, S. (2002). Transnational Networks and Skilled Labour Migration. Paper presented at the Ladenburger Diskurs "Migration" Gottlieb Daimler- und Karl Benz- Stiftung Conference, Laden burg.
Vickers, P. & Bekhradnia, B. (2007). The Economic Costs and Benefits of International Students. Higher Education Policy Institute.
Ward, C. (2001). The impact of international students on domestic students and host institutions. Paper prepared for Export Education Policy Project of the New Zealand Ministry of Education.
Westat, J. F., Frierson, H. Hood, S. & Hughes, G. (2002). The 2002 User Friendly Handbook for Project Evaluation. NSF 01-43. Arlington, VA: The National Science Foundation, Directorate for Education & Human Resources, Division of Research, Evaluation, and Communication
Wets, J. (2006). Skills Migration: Transfer of Skills and knowledge. Conference Report on Migration and Development, International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Wise, D. (2005). Impact of International Education Activities in southern Australia. Paper Prepared for Australian Council for Private Education and Training.
Wits financial information, available on the Internet, (accessed on 27 May 2008) at: http://web.wits.ac.za/Prosrectivefl nternational/Financial
98 World Bank. (2006). Global Economic Prospects: economic implications of remittances and migration. Washington DC.
Zigurasa, C. & Lawb, S-F. (2006). Recruiting international students as skilled migrants: the global "skills race" as viewed from Australia and Malaysia. Globalisation, Societies and Education: Vol. 4, Iss. 1, pp. 59-76.
99 Appendices
Appendix 1: Questionnaire
Dear Participant
I, Naum Ogweny Aloyo, am undertaking a master's degree study in Economics and Econometrics at the University of Johannesburg. This questionnaire, which in part fulfils the requirement for the degree, is to gauge the economic impact of international students on South Africa. To this end, I kindly request that you complete the following questionnaire regarding your social habits, background and plans for the future. It is a short questionnaire that should take 20 minutes to complete. Please do not enter your name or contact details on the questionnaire. It remains anonymous. All information collected via the questionnaire will be kept confidential. Note also that you may withdraw from the exercise at any stage for any reason that you may deem necessary.
Kindly return the completed questionnaire to me before 20 September 2008. It can be posted back to me via the postal address below.
PostNet Suite 102 Private Bag X 12 Melville 2109
For any arising queries, please contact me on the cell phone number and email address listed below.
Email address: ociwenyyahoo.com , cell: +27727657254
Yours sincerely
Naum 0 Aloyo Student/researcher
100 Section A - Background information
This section of the questionnaire refers to background or biographical information. Although we are aware of the sensitivity of the questions in this section, the information will allow us to compare groups of respondents. Once again, we assure you that your response will remain anonymous. Your co-operation is appreciated.
1. Gender Male 1 Female 2
2. Aae 18-21 years 1 22 - 29 years 2 30 —40 years 3 41 and older 4
3.1 If you are from Africa, of which country do you hold citizenship? Zimbabwe 1 Botswana 2 Namibia 3 Kenya 4 Nigeria 5 Gabon 6 DRC 7 Swaziland 8 Lesotho 9 Zambia 10 Mozambique 11 Other, please specify 1
3.2 If you are not from Africa, from which continent/region do you come? Europe 1 North America 2 South America 3 Asia 4 Other, please specify 5
101 4. Under what permit are you studying? Refugee's permit 1 Student permit 2 Exchange student 3 Diplomatic permit 4 Permanent resident 5 Other, please specify 6
5. In what year was the permit first issued?
How many times have you renewed your study permit? Never 1 Once 2 Twice 3 Three times 4 Four or more times 5
7. Who finances your studies? Government of your home country 1 Self-sponsoring 2 Other donor or combination of donors 3
R Why did you choose to study in South Africa? (Mark one or more as applicable). There is better infrastructure in South Africa 1 The study fees are lower in South Africa 2 There is an arrangement with my sponsor or government 3 I am on an exchange programme 4 There was/is civil war in my country 5 There was/is economic hardship in my country 6 I wanted to permanently migrate to South Africa 7 My parents are/were working in South Africa 8 I know/knew of relatives and friends from my country who are/were aIrE 9 in South Africa Other, please explain in the space provided below 10
In which university are you currentl y studvina? University of Johannesburg University of the Witwatersrand Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University University of Cape Town Monash South Africa University of Kwa Zulu Natal
102 10. Why did you choose to come to this university in particular? Mark one or more as nnlicabl Recommended by a friend 1 Recommended by a family member 2 Mandated by sponsor/government 3 Recommended by countrymen 4 Due to mutual agreement/ exchange programme 5 Other, please explain in the space provided below 6
11. What oroaramme are you enrolled for at the university? National certificate (NC) CERTIFICATE Further National Certificate (FNC) National Higher Certificate (NHC) National Diploma (NDip) - Further National Diploma (FND) DIPLOMA National Higher Diploma (NHD) Master's Diploma (Mdip) Bachelor's Degree in Technology (BTech) - Degree in TECHNOLOGY Master's Degree in Technology (MTech) Doctoral Degree in Technology (DTech) -
Bachelor's Degree - Honours Degree DEGREE Master's Degree Doctoral Degree
Other, please specify 15
12. If your answer to 11 above is 13 or 14 please specify below which degree/s you C.Omnlptpd in South Africa. Tick all/as applicable. None -- 1 Undergraduate 2 Graduate/Honour's 3 Master's 4
13. Please provide the specific title of your area of study (for example BSc Information Technolociv or Diploma in Transport Management):
103 Section B This section of the questionnaire explores your way of life in South Africa.
14. Where do you reside? On campus - 1 Off campus 2
15. If you reside off campus, please indicate the type of dwelling: Commune 1 Flat 2 Garden cottage 3 Room 4 House 5 Other 6
16. If you reside off campus, please indicate why you choose to do so? Mark one or more as applicable. I prefer to live off campus 1 Accommodation is cheaper off campus 2 Payment requirements for college residence is not favour 3 Other, please specify 4
17. With how many other students/people do you share your accommodation? None, 1 One other student/people 2 Two other students/people 3 Three or more other students/people 4 Other (specify no.) 5
18. The following table enquires about your monthly expenses. Please try to fill each expense in as accurate as possible. Expense Amoui Rent R Other bills related to accommodation (e.g., electricity, water, g R Phone calls (including international calls and messaging) R Medical aid fee A Transport within South Africa R Food and groceries R Entertainment (movies, tours, parties etc.) R
19. Do you have any employment in South Africa? Yes 11 No 12 If Yes, on average, how much do you earn per month? R
104 20. Are you on any medical aid in South Africa? Yes I 1 No 12
If Yes, on which medical aid are you?
21. How many times a year do/have you travel/ed back to your home country? Never 1 Once a year 2 Twice a year 3 Thrice a year 4 Four times or more 5
22. What means do you use to travel between South Africa and your home country? Mark one or more as aoolicable. By taxi 1 By bus 2 By train 3 By air 4 Other, please specify 5
23. From your answer in 21 and 22 above how much do you spend travelling to and from your country on average every year? jR I Section C This section explores your experience of different processes in South Africa.
24. How frequently do you experience racial prejudice, including xenophobia in South Africa? Never ii Rarely Sometimes Very often 5
25. Have you ever been arrested, harassed, questioned, or stopped by the South African police? Yes 1 No 12
26. If you answered Yes in question 25, please tick those that are applicable. Arrested ii Harassed Interrogated Stopped 5 Please elaborate
105 27. Have you been a victim of crime while in South Africa? Yes 11 No 12
28. How would you describe the process of renewing your study permit? Quick 1 Cumbersome 2 Normal 3
29. Were you asked for any bribe or favours for the renewal of your study permit? Yes 11 No 12 If Yes, how much? R
30. How do you consider the university registration procedures/requirements and administration? Mark one or more as applicable. Facilitative(easy to comply with) 1 Difficult, cumbersome/bureaucratic 2 Of good assistance and easily agreeable with 3
31. Have you had a group study session that included South African students? Yes 11 No 12
If Yes, how beneficial was it to you?
32. Do you intend to seek permanent residency in South Africa? Yes 11 No 12
33. To what extent do you agree with each of the following statements? Please indicate your answer usina the 5-ooint scale:
Cl) 0 Z > 0) CD ( -, 0 o CD = -' C - 0. CD
There are more job opportunities in South Africa than in my home cou CD Salaries are better in South Africa than in my home country. The living standards and conditions are better in South Africa than in country. It is difficult to obtain a work permit in South Africa. University education is a stepping stone to acquire permanent residen South Africa. South Africa is more developed than my home country South Africa is close to my country
Appendix 2: Interview schedule
106 Section A: Records relating to international students
The answers to the questions may be inserted in the spaces provided. In case the space provided is not enough, a separate sheet of paper may be used.
What was the total number of registered international students at this university ior eacn year trom zuuj to UUf( Year 12003 12004 12005 12006 12007 No. registere
From the answer above, how many in each year were exchange studen Year 12003 12004 12005 2006 2007 exch. St.
For each year from 2003 to 2007, how many international students were enrolled in the masters and aoctorai programmes-' Year 2003 12004 12005 2006 2007 Master's Doctoral
Specifically, and in total, how many postgraduate students were registered in the following broad categories (programmes) in your institution over the last 4 years? International students undertaking diploma and technology courses should fall iinthr th p.-;p hro2d cal&iories 2004 - 2005 2006 2007 Engineering Humanities Law Commerce Education Science Health science
For each year over the same period how many international students were enrolled for the following undergraduate programmes (BSc; BEng (Engineering); BCom and BA). And, how many international students graduated in each field from 2003 to 2008? You can make use of the tables below. The international students undertaking diploma, certificate and technology courses should fall under these broad categories.
107 International students reciistered and craduatinq in the BSc Year Total no. registered Total no. graduating 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008
International students registered and graduating in the BCom Year Total no. registered Total no. graduating 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008
International students rea stered and araduatina in BEna (enaineerinq) Year Total no. registered Total no. graduating 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008
International students reaistered and araduatina in the Humanities (BA) Year Total no. registered Total no. graduating 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008
International students registered and araduatin q in the BEd (Bachelor of Education) Year Total no. registered Total no. graduating 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008
International students registered and graduating in LLB Year Total no. registered - Total no. graduating 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008
International students registered and graduating in Health Sciences
108 Year Total no. registered Total no. graduating 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008
Other field of study (please specify) Year Total no. registered Total no. graduating 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008
Please indicate the total number of exchange students which were registered in your institution from the following regions over the last 3 years.
Africa Europe N. America AsialOceani S. America 2005 2006 2007
Section B: Financial and administrative compliance of international students
Do the international students and the local students pay the same tuition and accommodation fees? If so, how much per year does an undergraduate student pay for? • tuition • accommodation If "No", how much is the tuition and accommodation fees for a foreign undergraduate student? • tuition • accommodation If the tuition fees differ by year and field of study, use the following tables to record the tuition fees for each year and each field. A separate paper may be used if the space provided here is not enough.
109 Tuition f ps for iindrnrdiiate deoree course includina honours in Rands (ZAR. 2nd yea 3rd 1st yea Honou r Engineering BA LLB BCom Bed BSc Blech
[Other (please specify) I
Tuition fees for master's students in Rands (ZAR) 1st year 2 no year Other Humanities Sciences Engineering Education Law Commerce MTech MDip Other (please specify)
Tuition fees for doctoral students in Rands (ZAR) 1st year 2na 3rd year Humanities Sciences Engineering Education Law Commerce DTech Other
• Do international students have to comply with any additional requirements in terms of fee payment (e.g. having to pay all tuition fees upfront, etc.)? • Do international students pay any fee/s over and above the tuition and accommodation fees? If so how much is this premium? • Do exchange students also pay the same fees as other international students? • Is there any other fee that international students pay to the university with regard to other services offered by the university, e.g. transport, and meals? If so, how much is/are the fees per student per year? • Do international students access any subsidy from the South African government? How is the subsidy administered? Do students get equal portions? Please elaborate If so, how much is the subsidy per student?
110 • Do international students access any bursary from the university? What type of bursaries, if any, are they eligible for? How much is the bursary at the undergraduate, master's and doctoral level? Does the amount vary across the fields of study? If so, how much is the bursary for each discipline at the university
• Do international students access any external bursary that is administered by the university (e.g. from South African companies and organizations, alumni etc)? If so, can you ascertain the amounts granted per year since 2003? The amounts may vary according to the field and year of the academic programme. Please elaborate.
• Does the university have enough accommodation for both the local and international students? If not what is your policy in allocating accommodation, i.e. do you have preference between international students and South African students when allocating accommodation?
Given the high demand for university education, have you ever turned a student away from registration due to lack of places? If so have they been local students or international students. Is there a university policy to be used in making such decisions?
Section C: Marketing initiatives of the university
• Does the university undertake any marketing in search of international students? If so, what type of marketing does it undertake, or how does it go about it? E.g. faculties and/or departments are responsible for marketing their programmes.
Has the marketing effort, if any, yielded the desired targets? • If applicable, where is the marketing mostly targeted; in Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania or America? Please elaborate. • Is the number of international students from each region commensurate with the marketing effort placed on each region? Please elaborate. • Does the number of international students enrolled at your institution meet the target set by the university?
111 Appendix 3: Age and Course profile of the respondents
Appendix 4: Respondents and source country
FreqL Per Valid Pe Cumulative Valid 1 Zimbabwe 2 Botswana 3 Namibia 4 Kenya 5 Nigeria 6 Gabon 7 DRC 8 Swaziland 9 Lesotho 10 Zambia 11 Mozambique 12 Malawi 13 Sudan 14 Tanzania 15 Cameroon 16 Ethiopia 17 Rwanda 18 Uganda 19 Angola 20 Ghana 21 Europe 25 Other Total Missing System Total
112 Appendix 5: Country of origin and university
NMK L M Zimbabwe
Botswana
Namibia
Kenya
Nigeria
Gabon
DRC
Swaziland
Lesotho
Zambia
Mozambique
Malawi
Sudan
Tanzania
Cameroon
Ethiopia
113 Rwanda
Uganda
Angola
Ghana
Europe
Other
Appendix 6: country of origin and course
Comr Engineerin Scien Ed Health Zimbabwe
Botswana
Namibia
Kenya
Nigeria
Gabon
DRC
Swaziland
Lesotho
Zambia
114 Mozambique
Malawi
Sudan
Tanzania
Cameroon
Ethiopia
Rwanda
Uganda
Angola
Ghana
Europe
Other
115 Appendix 7: field of study and degree programme
Engine Scie Educa Health S National Certificate
National Diploma
Further National Diploma (FND)
(Btech)
(Mtech)
Bachelor's Degree
Honours Degree
Masters Degree
Doctoral Degree
Other
Total
Appendix 8: Type of permit
FreqL Per Valid Pe Cumulative Valid 1 Refugee's permit 2 Student permit 3 Exchange permit 4 Diplomatic permit 5 Permanent permit 6 Other Total Missing System Total
116 Appendix 9: Pull and push factors
A8.1 There is better infrastructure in South Africa A8.2 The study fees are lower in South Africa A8.3 There is an arrangement with my sponsor or government A8.4 I am on an exchange programme A8.5 There was/is civil war in my country A8.6 There was/is economic hardship in my country A8.7 I wanted to permanently migrate to South Africa A8.8 My parents are/were working in South Africa a8.9 I know/knew of relatives and friends from my country who are/ here in South Africa A8.10 Other Total
Recommended Mand Recommended I Recommended member sponsor/fl countrymen exchange orc Other uJ
Wits
NMMU
UCT
MSA
UKZN
Appendix 10: Source of funds
FreqL Per Valid Pe Cumulative Valid 1 Government of yo country 2 Self-Sponsoring 3 SA sponsor 4 Other Total Missing System
117 Appendix 11: Number of respondents per university
Fregi Per Valid Pe Cumulative Valid 1 University of Johannesburg 2 University of the Witwatersrand 3 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 4 University of Cape Town 5 Monash South Africa 6 University of Kwa Zulu Natal Total
Appendix 12: Travel by Air statistics
Mean Median Mode Std. Devia Skewness Std. Error Kurtosis Std. Error Minimum Maximum Perci 25 50 75
Appendix 13: Monthly living expenses descriptive statistics
b N Valid Missing Mean Median Mode Std. Deviation Skewness Std. Error of Skewness Kurtosis Std. Error of Kurtosis Minimum Maximum
118 ANOVA test
Dependent Variable (I) a9 (J) a9 Mean Diff erE Std. E 95% Confidence Ir
Lower B Upper Upper Lower bl 8sum UJ Wits 3 NMMU UCT MSA UKZN Wits UJ NMMU UCT MSA UKZN NMM UJ Wits UCT -41 MSA UKZN UCT UJ WITS NMMU 41 MSA UKZN MSA UJ Wits NMMU UCT UKZN UKZ UJ WITS NMMU UCT MSA b18.1 UJ Wits NMMU UCT MSA UKZN Wits UJ NMMU UCT MSA UKZN NMM UJ Wits UCT -1: MSA UKZN UCT UJ Wits
119 NMMU MSA UKZN MSA UKZN Wits NMMU UCT UKZN UKZI' UJ Wits NMMU UCT MSA bi 8.2 UJ Wits NMMU UCT MSA UKZN Wits UJ NMMU UCT MSA UKZN NMM UJ Wits UCT MSA UKZN UCT UJ Wits NMMU MSA UKZN MSA UJ Wits NMMU UCT UKZN UKZI' UJ Wits NMMU UCT MSA b18.5 UJ Wits NMMU UCT MSA UKZN Wits UJ NMMU UCT MSA UKZN
120 NMM UJ Wits UCT MSA UKZN UCT UJ Wits NMMU MSA UKZN MSA UJ Wits NMMU UCT UKZN UKZI' UJ Wits NMMU UCT 5 MSA b18.6 UJ Wits NMMU UCT MSA UKZN Wits UJ NMMU UCT MSA UKZN NMM UJ Wits UCT MSA UKZN UCT UJ Wits NMMU MSA UKZN MSA UJ Wits NMMU UCT UKZN UKZI' UJ Wits NMMU UCT MSA
121 Appendix 14: Respondents' employment in SA descriptive statistics 1 Yes N Valid Missing Mean Median Mode Minimum Maximum Percentiles
Std. Deviation Skewness Std. Error of Skewness
Kurtosis Std. Error of Kurtosis
Appendix 15: Medical aid covers of the respondents
b20 Are you currently on in South Africa T Y N Y a9 In which university are you UJ studying?
Wits
NMMU
UCT
MSA
UCT
Total
Frequency Percent Cumul Valid 2 AIG 3 AIR H/INTERN 4 BONITAS 5 CIMAS 6 DISCOVERY 7 FEDHEALTH 8 INGWE 15 KEYHEALTH 16 LIBERTY 19 MAD COVER 20 MARS INTERNA
IP4 21 MEDSCEM 22 MMSA 23 MOMENTUM 26 PRIME CARE 27 PROSPERITY 29 PROTEA 31 RESOLUTION 32 SANLAM 33 SPECTRAMED Total Missing 0 System Total Total
Appendix 16: Whether respondents had had a group study that included SA students
FreqL Per Valid Pe Cumulative Valid 1 Yes 2 No Total Missing System Total
Appendixi 7: Respondents' experiences with university registration
Difficult, cumbersome Of good assistance Facilitati a9 UJ
Wits
NMMU
UCT
MSA
UKZN
Total
123 Annprirliy I Rr (hnh p of rpidenie Payment requir Difficulty & co I prefer to liv Accommodation is ch college residen applying for ur Lack of accommoda - campus campus favourab residence campus 0 A'
If urui rp irIc nft tmnIIq nhii indiizitp tha tune of dwellina:
FreqL Per Valid Pe Cumulative Valid 1 Commune 2 Flat 3 Garden cottage 4 Room 5 House 6 Other Total Missing System Total
124 Appendix 19: Process of study permits renewal c28 How would you describe the process your study ermit? T(
Qu Cumbers Nor Qi a9 In which university are you UJ studying?
Wits
NMMU
UCT
MSA
UKZN
Total
Whether resoondents were asked for bribe/favours for the renewal of permit
Fregt Per Valid Pe Cumulative Valid 1 Yes 2 No Total Missing System Total uescrupuve saiusucs 01 me orioe N Valid Missing Mean Median Mode Std. Deviation Skewness Std. Error of Skewness Kurtosis Std. Error of Kurtosis Minimum Maximum Percentiles 25 50 75
125 Appendix 20: Experience of xenophobia and source country
Nev Rare Sometimes Very oft Zimbabwe
Botswana
Namibia
Kenya
Nigeria
Gabon
DRC
Swaziland
Lesotho
Zambia Mozambique
Malawi
Sudan
Tanzania
Cameroon
Ethiopia
Rwanda
Uganda
Angola
Ghana
Europe
Other
Total
126 Xenophobia and university
Nev Rarely Sometimes Very uJ
Wits
NMMU
UCT
MSA
UKZN
Total
Appendix 21: Respondents: experience with SA police
Valid Pel Cum Valid 1 Yes 2 No Total Missing System Total
Percent
C26.1 Arrested C26.2 Harassed C26.3 Interrogated C26.4 Stopped Total
127 Appendix 22: Experience with crime
Yes No uJ
Wits
NMMU
UCT
MSA
UKZN
Total
Appendix 23: Future plans of respondents
128 Appendix 24: Estimated 2008 tuition for an international student in SA
Determination of international students' tuition fees
An enquiry was made about whether the international students and the local students paid the same tuition and accommodation fees at these six universities. It was discovered that the tuition fees vary with each university according to the information on some institutions' website. The international tuition fees for 2008 at the six universities were estimated from the information available on the internet webs of some universities (UCT, UKZN, NMMU, Wits and MSA). UJ did not have the fee information on the web but it was available at the faculty offices and at the Student Finance Department of the university. Below is a discussion on how the average tuition fee per student was calculated for the six universities.
Table 6: Estimated tuition fees at Wits (2008 ZAR) Bachelor's Honours Master's PhD Total average Engineering 25930 29 710 30 333 9295 Arts 21550 16220 18590 8165 Law 22 590 N/A 7 980 7 980 Commerce 24500 N/A 19 825 8 150 Education N/A N/A N/A N/A Science 22 632 15 270 16 525 8 145 Health Science 24 735 N/A 14 845 N/A Average 23656 20400 18017 8347 17605 Source: Wits financial information, 2008 Internet source
129
• At Wits, of the 1 293 international students from outside SADC, there were 493 undergraduates. This distinction is necessary as the undergraduate students from non-SADC regions, postgraduate students from non-SADC and the SADC students all pay different tuition fees as follows:
(a) The average SADC international students' tuition fees at Wits are approximately R17 605. On top of this they pay an administration fee of R2 550 which brings their tuition fee total to R20 155. (b) The non-SADC international students in the postgraduate programmes pay the SNSADC tuition fees plus R3 000 administration fee, bringing their total tuition fee to R20 605. (c) International undergraduate students who are outside SADC pay additional tuition fees at Wits as contained in the table below.
Table 7: Estimated non-SADC undergraduate students' tuition fees at Wits (2008 ZAR)
Course Estimated tuition fees (2008 ZAR) Engineering 61 500 Arts 57 000 Commerce 57 000 Science 61 500 Health science 107 000 Law 57 000 Total mean 66 833 Source: Wits financial information, 2008 Internet source
• At UCT, the SADC international students pay the same tuition fees as SA students, while the non-SADC international students pay different fees that vary according to faculties.
Table 8: Estimated typical fees at UCT in 2008 ZAR Bachelor's I Honour's I Master's I PhD Total Average Engineering 125000 126500 120000 18220
130 Arts 25000 21 750 17500 8220 Law 26 000 26 000 30 000 8 220 Commerce 27 000 30 000 17 000 8 220 Education N/A N/A N/A N/A Science 125000 124000 1 12 250 8 220 Health Science 28 500 16 000 20 000 8 220 Average 26083 24042 1 . 19458 8220 19450 Source: UCT students' financial information, 2008 Internet source
• Table 8 gives an estimation of a typical UCT student's tuition fees according to courses for all categories of students. UCT charges international students from SADC the same tuition fees it charges South African students. International students pay additional fees over and above these fees as stated below:
(a) R24 000 for all courses for both undergraduate (including Law) and honours (excluding Law). (b) Ri 9 500 for all Master's and PhD courses except Law (c) Ri 000 for all Law courses for Honours, Master's and PhD
When these additional fees are incorporated into the above table, the following estimates emerge.
Table 9: Estimated tuition fee for non-SADC international students at UCT (2008 ZAR) Bachelor's Honour's Master's PhD Total mean Engineering 49 000 46 000 39 500 27 720 Arts 49 000 45 750 37 000 27 720 Law 50000 36000 40000 18220 Commerce 51 000 54 000 46 000 27 720 Education N/A N/A N/A N/A Science 49 000 48 000 31 750 27 720 Health Science 152 500 140000 139500 27 720 Mean 150083 144958 138958 126136 140034 Source: UCT students' financial information, 2008 Internet source
• At MSA, all international students pay the same tuition fees although it is more than what the South African students pay. MSA has merit awards available to both South African and international students who score a distinction. Despite an
131 effort to get the information and the amount of merit awards available to international students, the researcher was not able to obtain this information from the Student Service Bureau. However, bursaries are only available to South African citizens who are considered to be in need of financial assistance and who are academically competent.
Table 10: Estimated international students' tuition fees at MSA (2008 ZAR) Bachelor's Honour's Arts 41 070 41 070 Commerce 44 030 30 200 Science 45 000 30 200 Average 43 367 N/A Source: Monash SA Undergraauate ijuice uu
• At UJ, all international students from Africa pay more than the South African students, yet less than the students from outside Africa pay.
An international student from Africa pays Ri 300 more plus a registration fee of R480, arriving at a total of R13 341, while an international student from outside Africa pays an extra R30 000 and in addition the registration fee, yielding R42 041.
Table 11: Estimated students' tuition fees at UJ (2008 ZAR) Bachelor's Honours Master's PhD Total Average Engineering 18 500 N/A 10 320 6 880 Arts 14515 12955 10320 6880 Law 14515 12955 10320 6880 Commerce 15 245 12 955 10 320 6 880 Education 14 850 12 955 10 320 6 880 Science 17 500 12 955 10 320 6 880 Health Science 17 500 12 955 10 320 6 880 Average 16 089 12 955 10 320 6 880 11 561 Source: UJ student tees
132 • AT NMMU, exchange/studying abroad students, SADC international students and non-SADC African students all pay different fees as in Table 12.
Table 12: NMMU fee breakdown for different categories of international students (2008 7AR SADC Non-SADC Exchange Study abroad Administration 2 500 2 500 3 300 3 300 Registration 240 240 240 240 Tuition 0 12800 12800 12800 Module 14500 14500 14500 14500 Average 117240 130040 130840 30840 Source: NMMU 2008 Finance Guide, Internet source
• At UKZN, all international students pay the same tuition fee plus an international premium of Ri 680, bringing the total tuition fee of an international student to R16 145.
Table 13: Estimated tuition fee for international students at UKZN (2008 ZAR)
Bachelor's Honour's Master's PhD Total Mean Arts 16150 12160 11 490 12730 Health Science 19100 14410 11490 12730 Education 15720 N/A ii 490 12730 Law 16390 N/A 11490 12730 Commerce 17350 14410 11490 12730 Engineering 18360 20 320 15815 12 730 Science 17770 14410 15815 12730 MEAN 17262 15142 12725 12730 14465 Source: UKZN students' fees guide, 2008 Internet source
From the information gathered from the institutions, the study recognised two types of expenditure of international students for academic purposes: tuition fees and books/stationery. Only three institutions, Wits, UCT and UJ, gave an estimate of book and stationery expenditure per student as R5 500, R4 000 and R4 000 respectively. This study adopted the lowest estimate of book expenditure of R4 000 in keeping with the practice of maintaining conservative figures.
133 Estimated 2008 tuition fee for international students at Wits 1. fees for SADC international students = 1 445X R20 155 = R29 123 975 2. fees for the non-SADC postgraduate students=800X R20 605 = R16 484 000 3. fees for the non-SADC undergraduate students =493XR(66 833+R1 7 605) =R41 627 934 Total tuition fees for international students in 2008 was= R(29223975+16484000+41627934) =R87 235 909
Estimated 2008 tuition fee from international students at UJ 1. Tuition fees for international students from Africa=1 522XR1 3 341 =R20 305 002 2. Tuition fees of students from out of Africa=91 XR42 041 =R3 825 731 3. Total lJJ fees for international students = R(20 305 002+3 825 731) = R24 130 733
Estimated 2008 tuition fee for international students at UCT 1. tuition fees for SADC international students=2 299XR19 450 =R44 715 550 2. tuition fees for non-SADC international students=2 341 XR4O 034 =1393 719 594 3. total tuition fees for international students = R(9 3719 594+44 715 550) =R138 435 144
Estimated 2008 tuition fees for international students at UKZN = 26 37XR16 145, =R42 574 365
Estimated 2008 tuition fee for international students at NMMU is given by 1. tuition fees for SADC international students=1 1 O8XR1 7 240 =R1 9 101 920 2. tuition fees for the rest of Africa international students =401XR30 040 = R12 046 040 3. tuition fees for exchange/study-abroad students=434XR30840 = R13 384 560 4. Estimated total tuition fee at NMMU for international students in 2008 =1344 532 520
Estimated 2008 tuition fee for international students at MSA is given by 1 625XR43 367, =R70 471 375
134 From the above estimations, the total estimated tuition fees in 2008 in the six HEIs is given by adding together the estimates for each university thus =R(87235909+44532520+42574365+138435144+24130733+70471375) =R407 380 046 This is divided by the total number of international students in the six HEIs to estimate the average tuition fee of a typical international student in South Africa thus R407 380 046/15 246 =R26 720
135 UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG UNIVERSITEIT VAN JOHANNESBURG AUCKLAND PARK KINGSWAY CAMPUS I KAMPUS POSBUS 524 BOX 524 AUCKLAND PARK 2006 Tel: 011 559-2165
2O - i -
This item must be returned on or before the last date stamped. A renewalfor afurther period may be granted provided the book is not in demand. Fines are charged on overdue items.