UK students have been unfazed by the new ranking, but international students are taking the results seriously, which could damage bronze universities
Full article here – https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2017/oct/16/is-the-teaching-excellence-framework-shaping-international-student-choice
The teaching excellence framework (TEF) ratings have been around since June, but their impact on choices made by prospective domestic students seems muted so far. When it comes to international students, however, it’s an entirely different story: there are some striking early changes in the way they research their potential choice of university.
Between July and September 2016, Tef gold institutions made up 19.1% of all global searches looking at the UK across sites listed on Hotcourses, which accounts for more than 32m searches each year and is used by universities to estimate their volume of applications and enrolments.
In the same time period for 2017, following the introduction of the TEF medals, gold institutions accounted for 24.5% of all searches to the UK, a much higher proportion than would have been expected.
There are also sharp differences by country. For students who are researching UK universities from India, Thailand, Turkey and Brazil there are particularly noticeable increases in interest for TEF gold institutions. For prospective students from India looking at the UK, TEF gold institutions have increased their share of searches from 23.7% to 36.9%, from a country known to be particularly sensitive to reputational signals.
As the Glocal study market ie those international students staying locally but accessing UK qualifications through local and/or online delivery continues to develop, learners are in a position to study Qualifi’s level 4 and 5 HE qualifications before taking an Honours Degree final year Top Up.
Contact Qualifi for more information about becoming an approved centre or a student at one of our provider organisations.