I
nternational students contribute roughly £41.9 billion per annum to the UK economy and make an important contribution to its cultural and intellectual diversity and talent.
With the recent decline of international students
entering the UK, student recruitment remains a top priority in HE and continues to be critical to the sustainability and success of its universities. Elizabeth Newall, senior sector specialist at Jisc, and
Yining Tang, digital education adviser, University of Oxford, took the stage at BETT’s Ahead auditorium in London to share some of the ‘digital shocks’ that international students experience. The session focused on a piece of research published
by Jisc and the Portulans Institute. The work summarises student feedback on their digital experiences and compares them to the Network Readiness Index (NRI) which ranks the digital readiness of countries, to understand how a student’s experience of their home country’s digital infrastructure can impact their digital learning experience once they arrive in the UK.
LEARNING ACROSS DIGITAL BORDERS “Given the pervasive use of digital throughout the student journey, we can’t understand international students’ learning experience without evaluating their experiences of digital. Students might find it challenging to adjust to the expectations of using technology for learning in the UK. Or, they might not be accustomed to having reliable wi-fi, leading them to pay for mobile data to access online learning resources in the UK,” explained Newall. “Furthermore, some UK institutions assume reliable
and free wi-fi access is a global standard and fail to explain what eduroam is, and that wi-fi can usually be accessed for free in civic spaces as well as on campus. By understanding the needs of international students, and prioritising an equitable experience for them, we have the potential to forge a world-class digital learning experience that supports the needs of all students.” The presentation took a special look at China, India,
Pakistan and Nigeria as four countries which are of particular interest to UK HE student recruitment, and have NRI rankings of 20, 60, 90 and 106 respectively. Newall explored the wi-fi and cellular trends in these four countries as well as differences in their levels of digital education and capabilities. Newall noted that previous NRI reports suggest that
countries ranked with an NRI of 50 and below struggled the most with a digital pivot to online teaching and learning. A significant urban and rural divide, in terms of access to the internet, was also apparent in other reports.
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GLOBAL EDUCATION
DIGITAL LEARNING
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