July 09, 2022

Stakeholders at BUILA’s Conference Claim Global Educational Sector to be Impacted Due to Current Events

A At the recently held BUILA Conference, stakeholders predicted long-term impacts for the global educational sector. During the conference held at ICC Wales, attendees were informed that rules and restrictions relating to visas, inflation, and other issues have a deep impact on students. Some cited the visa delay issues in the UK as a possible problem for the global education sector.

Speakers at the conference were not the only ones to warn of geo-political shocks, A report co-authored by former UK universities minister Jo Johnson has warned institutions that they need to prepare for future geopolitical shocks.

…we know there are issues still going on in China – that’s not just a challenge for us [as international office representatives] in the future relationship – it’s the UK government as well...

One of the speakers, Malcolm Butler, VP of global engagement at the University of Sheffield told those attending, “All of a sudden you’ve got changes on the ground, not just Covid and visas, but also fuel prices and travel costs.” He further added, “We know there are issues still going on in China – that’s not just a challenge for us [as international office representatives] in the future relationship – it’s the UK government as well. We’ve all seen the news about research, IP, security, but a huge part of our economy hinges on it.” Malcolm Butler has called for governments to do a more balancing act. He paid special attention to the human rights issues in Saudi Arabia.

Calling for a more balanced approach, a speaker at the BUILA conference said, “There’s been a huge outflow of support for Ukraine, which I think is very understandable. But from a sector perspective, with these priority visas from Ukraine, what has that done for students in China and India? Has it affected them? When do visas come back online?”

Charlotte Bellis reminded the audience that at the moment, inflation is an extremely pressing problem. She said, “It’s hard to get it under wraps because you have different kinds of responses in different nations and that can spur on to so many different issues. That could create a lot of damage.”

Stakeholders noted the opportunity in international education, which has grown in China over the previous three years, despite the fact that China remains a major source of concern.

Posted in News and tagged News, UK, China, BUILA Conference
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