Durham E-Theses Non-EU International Students in UK Higher Education Institutions: Prosperity, Stagnation and Institutional Hierarchies MATEOS-GONZALEZ, JOSE,LUIS How to cite: MATEOS-GONZALEZ, JOSE,LUIS (2019) Non-EU International Students in UK Higher Education Institutions: Prosperity, Stagnation and Institutional Hierarchies, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13359/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Non-EU International Students in UK Higher Education Institutions: Prosperity, Stagnation and Institutional Hierarchies José Luis Mateos-González Department of Sociology, Durham University A thesis submitted to Durham University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2019 1 To my mum –her unconditional support has made this thesis possible. A mi madre, cuyo apoyo incondicional ha hecho de esta tesis una realidad. To my dad –I will always miss him. A mi padre, a quien siempre echaré de menos. 2 Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 7 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 9 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 11 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 11 2. The expansion of global student mobility flows and the marketisation of UK higher education ....... 15 3. Why does it matter? The recruitment of non-EU international students and resourcing disparities .. 19 4. Research questions ........................................................................................................................................... 25 5. Organisation of the thesis ............................................................................................................................... 27 2. International students in UK universities: history, drivers and policies ....................... 33 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 33 2. A potted history of international student mobility to the UK .................................................................. 35 2.1. The mobility of students before the nation state: foreign students in Medieval universities ................................................... 36 2.2. International students in Early Modern Europe .............................................................................................................. 37 2.3. International students or imperial subjects? UK Universities and the empire .................................................................... 39 2.4. Imperial subjects turn foreign citizens: The Commonwealth and the post-war period ......................................................... 40 2.5. Market imperatives and the end of the post-war consensus ................................................................................................ 43 3. A periodization of UK policies on international students from 1995/96 to 2016/17 .......................... 47 3.1. The evolution of non-EU international student numbers in UK higher education: 1995/96 to 2016/17 ........................ 49 3.2. The Diagnosis phase (1995/96-1999/2000) ............................................................................................................... 53 3.3. New Labour and the expansionary phase of the first Prime Minister’s Initiative (1999/2000-2003/04): ..................... 55 3.4. The first plateau period (2003/04 -2007/08) ............................................................................................................... 57 3.5. The expansionary phase of the second Prime Minister’s Initiative (2007/08-2010/11) .................................................. 58 3.6. The Coalition migration policy (2010/11-2016/17) ..................................................................................................... 61 4. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................... 65 3. Why do international students move to UK higher education institutions? ................. 67 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 67 2. Why do students leave their home countries? Push factors ...................................................................... 69 3. The popularity of UK higher education among international students ................................................... 72 5. Distinctive places: geographical location and institutional choice ............................................................ 83 6. HEIs’ recruiting non-EU international students: institutional strategies ................................................. 86 3 7. UK higher education, the recruitment of non-EU international students and the field of higher education ................................................................................................................................................................ 89 8. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................... 93 4. Data and Methods ......................................................................................................... 96 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 96 2. Secondary data on non-EU international students in UK higher education .......................................... 97 3. Exploring patterns of recruitment of non-EU international students in UK higher education using HESA data .......................................................................................................................................................... 101 4. Operationalisation of explanatory variables .............................................................................................. 106 4.1. Explanatory variables for cross-sectional analysis in 2016/17 ...................................................................................... 107 4.2. Explanatory variables for longitudinal analysis 1995/96-2016/17 ............................................................................ 117 5. Analytical methods ........................................................................................................................................ 119 6. A critical note on the use of multivariate modelling in social science research ................................... 123 5. The field of Non-EU international Students in UK higher education in 2016/17 ....... 126 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 126 2. Non-EU international students in UK higher education in 2016/17: institutions, fields of study and countries of origin .............................................................................................................................................. 128 2.1. Analysis by institution .................................................................................................................................................. 130 2.2. Analysis by country of origin ......................................................................................................................................... 139 2.3. Analysis by subject of study ........................................................................................................................................... 143 3. What explains the variation in the proportions of students who are non-EU international in UK HEIs in 2016/17? Findings from bivariate statistics .................................................................................... 148 3.1. Theoretical considerations .............................................................................................................................................. 149 3.2. Variables included in the analysis ................................................................................................................................. 152 3.3. Institutional reputation ................................................................................................................................................