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International Strategy for Higher Education Institutions

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Banff National ParkThis News and Views page is my Blog.

I use it to:

  • comment on topics relevant to those working in international education
  • share tips and advice on internationalisation approaches
  • highlight training, conferences or events that I am involved with
  • link to helpful or interesting news items, reports or other resources

This page shows the ten most recent blog articles. A complete list of all articles since the blog started in May 2014 can be found on the Blog Archive page.


Vicky Lewis Consulting Blog


UK universities' international KPIs - PART 3

Posted on 4 Feb 2025 at 16:35 by Vicky Lewis

Good KPIs, traps and tips

This is the third in my series of blogs sharing insights and emerging ideas on ways to measure international success, based on a review of university international strategies. Links to earlier blogs in the series are provided at the end of this one.

Strategy trapsIn most UK university international strategies, there is some reference to how success will be measured. However, the level of detail and specificity varies hugely. The term Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is used liberally – and often quite loosely – alongside other terms such as ambitions, measures, metrics and indicators of success.

Before I share (in future blogs) my observations on typical – and more innovative – KPIs linked to different international engagement themes, I’ve decided to use this blog to outline the characteristics of a good KPI and to detail some traps to avoid and tips to bear in mind. 

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UK universities' international KPIs - PART 2

Posted on 22 Jan 2025 at 17:55 by Vicky Lewis

Characteristics and key themes

KPIs

This is part two in a series of blogs sharing insights and emerging ideas on ways to measure international success, based on a review of university strategies for internationalisation or global engagement (abbreviated here as ‘international strategies’). In case you missed it, here’s a link to the first scene-setting one.

What I write comes with the caveat that, across two review periods (in 2020 and 2024), I found only 14 publicly accessible international strategies which included KPIs, and only six of these were current when I conducted my 2024 review. Recognising the importance of client confidentiality, I do not include in the analysis any strategies to which I had privileged access as a consultant involved in their development. However, when making wider observations, I may draw on some of the approaches explored during my consultancy work.

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UK universities' international KPIs - PART 1

Posted on 15 Jan 2025 at 15:19 by Vicky Lewis

What sits below the tip of the iceberg?

Tip of the Iceberg

When I reviewed UK universities’ strategic plans during the pandemic, I found that they tended to use a narrow, fairly inward-looking set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure their international success. This was despite the fact that the rhetoric in the strategy documents often emphasised bold, outward-facing ambitions about making a positive global contribution.

Across the higher education sector, many saw the pandemic as an opportunity to step back and consider what ‘globally engaged’ or ‘internationally active’ might mean for universities when these concepts are not predicated on physical mobility. Commitments were made to maintain a broader perspective on internationalisation and global engagement post-pandemic – and to ‘build back better’.

It struck me that one way of evaluating whether universities were sticking to these commitments would be to examine institutional KPIs in this area. After all, KPIs tend to determine where an institution focuses its resources and efforts. In practice, they count for more than any noble words in the narrative of strategy documents.

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Positive Stories from UK Universities

Posted on 8 Jan 2025 at 16:48 by Vicky Lewis

Three examples from alumni newsletters

Oxford rights-based conservation projectI’m an alumna of three, very different UK universities: one Russell Group, one post-92, and one pre-92 (non Russell Group). They all send me end-of-year online newsletters. I have to confess that I normally skim-read these at best.

However, this time round, amid all the news of deficits and redundancies and a general vibe of doom and gloom across the higher education sector, I felt the need to read some positive stories.

As you’d expect, each newsletter shared details of impressive achievements by members of the institution’s community. What struck me most was the impact many of these are having and / or will have on wider communities around the world.

In this blog, I’m going to pick out three examples to share in an effort to start the new year with something uplifting.

I’ll work up from the university where I studied as an undergraduate to the one where I completed my doctorate (with a little bit of autobiography so you know what my connection with them is).

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UK university strategy case study

Posted on 6 Dec 2024 at 17:15 by Vicky Lewis

Seeking to integrate ‘global social purpose’

Winter Forum 2024 - Time for a Reset

The theme of Winter Forum 2024, the magazine of the European Association for International Education (EAIE), is ‘Building Back Better?’.

This issue explores the ways in which international education has shifted since the pandemic. As the Editorial puts it:

‘What does ‘building back better’ really mean for international education? The emphasis is on the word ‘better’; it invites higher education institutions to rethink internationalisation through the lenses of ethics, inclusivity and sustainability. It calls for more equitable partnerships and encourages reflection on the environmental impact of mobility programmes… This issue of Forum provides a truly global perspective with thought-provoking and stimulating contributions targeted at educators who want to innovate their thinking and their classrooms and build back better.’

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My 100th blog

Posted on 4 Dec 2024 at 10:27 by Vicky Lewis

A decade of international higher education reflections

Blog topic wordcloud

Time for a reflective piece, since this is the 100th blog I’ve posted on the News and Views section of my website.

My first one was in May 2014, so I’ve been using blogging as an outlet for over a decade now, with an output rate of roughly ten a year.

It was interesting looking back over my blog archive. I stumbled across various things I’d forgotten I’d written about!

So, how has my focus changed? What have I learned? Which were the most popular blogs? And what next?

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Partnering for international employability

Posted on 27 Nov 2024 at 10:40 by Vicky Lewis

What 'careers-focused' looks like

India - UK partnership

The University of East London (UEL) is a magnet for Indian students. In 2022/23, nearly 8000 were studying there. That’s 77% of its international student body (and one in every 22 Indian students in the UK).

Most Indian students who study abroad need convincing that there will be an appropriate return on their (significant) investment. One of the things that makes UEL so attractive is its emphasis on empowering students for successful careers.

Its Vision 2028 progress update describes its mission as ‘equipping [students] with skills valued by employers, fostering connections and providing unwavering support in collaboration with industry partners’.

Lots of UK universities say this kind of thing. And many of them do a great job of preparing their domestic students for careers in the UK.

Some of them make the effort to understand – and provide - the additional guidance and support required by international students wishing to take advantage of the UK’s post-study work opportunities, which have opened up since the introduction of the Graduate Route visa in 2021.

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A tale of two 'firsts'

Posted on 18 Nov 2024 at 16:03 by Vicky Lewis

Strengthening global presence

Global presenceBrowsing Times Higher Education (THE) on 14 November 2024, I came across two articles about UK universities strengthening their international presence by establishing permanent physical bases in other countries:

Imperial opens science and technology research hub in Ghana

Southampton wants 5,000 students at ‘comprehensive’ India campus

At first sight, these initiatives are very different.

Imperial College London ‘has become the first UK university to open a permanent base for science and technology research in Africa’. The Imperial Global Ghana hub, based in Accra, will focus on ‘medical diagnostics, vaccine research, AI and data science, climate science and sustainable cities’, building on Imperial’s partnerships in West Africa to strengthen collaborative links between that region and the UK.

Meanwhile, the University of Southampton, having been awarded a licence by India’s University Grants Commission (UGC) in August 2024, is set to become the first British university campus in the country when it opens next year. While the initial course portfolio will be a modest six courses, there is an ambitious goal that ‘by the 10th year of operation, about two-thirds of the courses on offer at Southampton’s home campus will be available in India’, with target enrolments of 5,000 by the end of the first decade.

But what do these two ventures have in common?

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A different kind of summer school

Posted on 12 Nov 2024 at 15:16 by Vicky Lewis

Reversing the gaze

Guggenheim tulipsMost international summer schools offered by UK universities fall into the category of fee-paying Study Abroad. They cater to students whose families can afford to send them to the UK for a few weeks of study (sometimes credit-bearing, sometimes not), coupled with a social programme and excursions to local (or not so local) tourist attractions.

Many students come from wealthy countries (particularly the US). The summer school can provide a valuable additional income stream for the university and may even whet the appetite of participants to return for postgraduate study.

Some institutions offer scholarships and/or, collaborating with partner universities, make subsidised places available for students from less wealthy countries or less privileged backgrounds.

However, irrespective of any attempts to diversify the cohort, the conceptual basis of the summer school generally centres on show-casing the university’s academic expertise (and the assets of the local area) via a bite-sized experience for which there is sufficient international demand to make it a viable business proposition.

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Changing strategies for global engagement

Posted on 31 Jul 2024 at 12:20 by Vicky Lewis

EAIE conference session

EAIE 2024 Speaker

I’m just about to head off on a family holiday for a couple of weeks. And I know that, once I get back, the EAIE conference in Toulouse (17-20 September) will be just around the corner.

This conference is always a highlight of my year and I’m looking forward to travelling down through France to La Ville Rose by train.

I’m pleased to be chairing and speaking at a session there. It’s called University strategies for global engagement: What’s changed since the pandemic?

(Session 4.05 at 15:30 on 18 September – details in the Leadership, strategy and policy topic list).

It’s been fun preparing for it with co-presenters Ramon Ellenbroek from the Netherlands and Dr Douglas Proctor from Australia.

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