Lack of information on European study opportunities

Foreign students who come to Europe to study find that the continent offers high quality education. However, Europe is losing out to the US on a number of issues, such as the perceived prestige of institutions, labour-market acceptance of qualifications, and the dynamism and innovation capacity of European university campuses, a study found out.

The study, aimed at investigating what third countries think of European higher education and what can be done to make Europe a more attractive place to study, was carried out among 20,000 students from all parts of the world by the Academic Co-operation Association between November 2004 and December 2005.

The number of foreign tertiary students in European universities barely reach an average six per cent of all tertiary students. In Malta, less than five per cent of the student population receiving higher education were foreign until a couple of years ago.

In the UK, the ratio stood at 11.2 per cent, while only 1.9 per cent of students in Italy were foreigners. Liechtenstein hosted the highest number of foreign students, with three fourths of the student population coming from third countries, while the lowest number of foreign students was seen in Poland.

The study also found that foreigners do not look at European countries as part of a union, but look at the continent's individual countries, especially the larger states. This explains why countries like France and Germany host a relatively high number of foreigners.

The countries were also among the three countries, together with the UK, which students knew most about. In fact, almost half of them only had considerable knowledge on the UK, Germany and France, while knowledge about the UK and the US was above any other destination.

The number of students who were well informed about other countries was negligible, and furthermore, knowledge of higher education opportunities in the new member states was very limited.

It emerged that one of the main reasons for not attracting so many foreign students is that there is a lack of information on study opportunities. In fact, an "overwhelming majority of respondents" said that there is a lack of information on higher education in Europe.

However, the lack of information seems to be counter-balanced by the positive perception foreign students have, given that the most important factors influencing the decision for a destination are the quality of education, reputation and prestige of the institution and of the degrees earned, affordability and safety.

Ján Figel', European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism, said that the study shows that European higher education is perceived positively around the globe.

"It also tells us, however, that Europe needs to further improve the quality of its higher education, and that it must provide more comprehensive and accessible information on its study opportunities. The Commission will remain committed to the promotion of the EU's higher education systems, notably through Erasmus Mundus - the EU programme specifically designed to improve the quality and attractiveness of higher education in Europe - and the Tempus programme for cooperation with our neighbouring countries," he said.

The report makes recommendations to make the continent more attractive to foreign students:

"A perception of European higher education as a whole should be created, by means of a "European brand", with characteristics common to all European countries; study opportunities in Europe must be made much better known outside of the EU, by way of a coherent and convincingly implemented information policy, including the creation of a single, well functioning web portal; marketing alone is not sufficient:

"Europe must improve its educational offer in order to become and remain attractive to students from elsewhere."