UK Higher Education, Main Factor To Attract International STEM Students

03 Nov 2015

As per the new survey, it has been found that the perceived quality of UK higher education is the main reason for international students to come to UK inorder to study science, technology and Maths (STEM) courses.

We find that majority of the overseas undergraduate students on STEM courses have said that they have chosen UK institutions because of its reputation for the high-quality education (51%) with another 29% of students stating that qualification from the nation offers excellent career prospects in their discipline. Just over fifth (21%) have attributed their choice to the presence of friends or relatives as per the research conducted by the  British Council has published today.

The same overarching trends emerged for overseas postgraduate STEM students but the focus is on the UK’s Quality of education was even more pronounced, about 40% chose the UK for this reason, over the career opportunities (28 %) or the fact that UK is at the fore front of innovation in their subject (23%).

As per the report, the international STEM students focus on skills for the future. It does include the results of the survey that was conducted for about 1348 STEM international students in the UK, Canada, US and Australia for the factors affecting their choice of course and destination nation.

The main factor for the international undergraduate STEM students to choose the US was career prospects (22%) while those who picked Canada did so because of the nation’s reputation for safety (24%) and its multicultural society (23%). The students in Australia stated that they have friends and family in the area (24%).

Only a small percentage of students in Australia, Canada and the US (between 15 and 22%) have stated that they have picked the nation because of its reputation for high-quality education.