UK universities' international KPIs - PART 7

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UK universities' international KPIs - PART 7

Posted on 5 Mar 2025 at 09:37 by Vicky Lewis

International student experience, success and alumni engagement

This is the seventh 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.

International student success As many people observed in the comments on my international student recruitment KPIs blog, you can’t achieve sustainable advances in attracting students to your campus without paying attention to international student experience, success and alumni engagement.

The experiences (educational, social, cultural, job-related and other) that international students have at a university;
their academic and employment outcomes;
and their ongoing involvement with their institution throughout their life and career:

the quality of all of these feeds directly into a university’s reputation and, therefore, its ability to recruit future generations of students.

And that's not to mention the positive societal impact of nurturing a generation of well-educated, well-informed, community-minded and highly employable individuals.

The question is, how much emphasis is there in UK university international strategies on KPIs relating to these crucial priorities?

How is success measured when it comes to international student experience and outcomes?

An analysis of the KPIs of six published international strategies with an end date between 2024 and 2030 shows that only three include explicit KPIs relating to international student experience and outcomes. Between them, they list five such KPIs.

The KPIs include:

International student level of performance (target: comparable to on-campus students as a whole)
International student completion (target: more than 85%)
International student NSS / PTES scores (no target given)
International graduate outcomes results (no target given – and no obvious actions in the strategy that would lead to improvements in this area)

There is also a KPI (included by an HEI with sub-degree provision) relating to provision of host family accommodation.

Two of these KPIs broadly correspond to the indicators used to evaluate Student Success in the Education Insight Global Engagement Index:

Continuation Rate of First Degree International Students (progression from Year 1 to Year 2 based on HESA student record)
Overall satisfaction of international students according to National Student Survey (NSS)
Proportion of International Leavers in Study or Employment (using Graduate Outcomes Survey – i.e. snapshot 15 months after completion of their course).

Looking at earlier strategies

Extending the analysis to include those international strategies reviewed in 2020, some additional measures come to light.

Student experience

Two institutions used the International Student Barometer (now administered by Etio) as their benchmark for international student experience, in both cases seeking improvements over time. Others stuck with the NSS and PTES (Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey) as a measure of ‘satisfaction’.

One included a KPI to ‘enhance international student engagement with the Students’ Union’. A KPI at another institution was for ‘all overseas students to be offered work-related experience of some form in the UK – through internships, placements or work-related projects’.

Student and graduate outcomes

One institution went down the route of seeking comparable outcomes (in different areas) with UK students. These included ‘achieving good degrees (2:1 and first)’ and ‘gaining a distinction at postgraduate taught level’. It also sought to ‘ensure our employment rates of overseas and EU graduates are comparable to UK graduates’ (though measuring this with any degree of accuracy is now even more challenging following changes to the way international students are contacted for the Graduate Outcomes Survey).

Alumni engagement

Several universities had KPIs relating to increasing the number of engaged international alumni or alumni chapters, or developing new chapters in strategic locations. Some evaluated success through improvements in levels of alumni engagement. In one case, this was measured through the number of alumni masterclasses delivered. Elsewhere, the focus was on increasing the number (or value) of alumni donations.

Scope for further innovation

I would argue that KPIs relating to international student experience and outcomes should be more prominent in strategies than they appear to be. They are not just a ‘nice to have’. And there is scope to include some that are more varied and imaginative.

As Julie Vincent pointed out in a comment on a previous blog in this series: ‘KPIs which balance recruitment and income targets with genuine and measurable student value and benefits are essential stabilisers’. Institutions that just focus on enrolment numbers and income levels risk losing sight of the people behind the numbers: their aspirations and experiences.

Ruth Arnold also made the insightful observation that ‘the student of today is the graduate of tomorrow and the greatest impact of education itself is embodied in them and how they apply their knowledge’.

In simple terms, most universities want to be confident that:

their students feel a sense of belonging, are thriving at the institution and are fulfilling their educational and wider ambitions;
their graduates are thriving in their careers, making a positive impact in society, and feeling ongoing pride in their alma mater.

This is an area where qualitative primary research and case studies can be used to complement and amplify data-driven measures of success. There are opportunities to explore changes in stakeholder (student and alumni) perceptions over time, whether that’s through an instrument such as the International Student Barometer or in some other way.

Institutions adopting a strategic approach would first ascertain what's most important to different types of student (e.g. quality of teaching; access to work experience; relevant career support; comfortable, safe living arrangements; quality of intercultural interactions). They would then establish those areas where the institution is living up to expectations and those where it isn’t. These insights would allow them to prioritise strategic actions (and associated KPIs) to address the gaps, viewing this as a process of continuous improvement.

Similarly, there’s an opportunity to measure success in international alumni engagement in terms other than number of alumni chapters and value of donations. The starting point should be an understanding of what international alumni want from any continued association with the university. And an evaluation of graduate outcomes is not just about what job they’re doing, but also how fulfilled they are and what impact they’re having. Of course, this is not easy to measure, but delving into these questions can provide rich insights.

In the case of both current students and alumni, it’s important to take an inclusive approach, recognising that there are many categories of student beyond full-time undergraduates and taught postgraduates. This extends to students on (and graduates of) TNE, online and exchange programmes. And to postgraduate research students (more on them in the next blog).

When setting KPIs relating to international student experience and outcomes, an approach which centres on institutional self-awareness and self-improvement in relation to stakeholder priorities (rather than including only the kinds of targets that feed into league tables and rankings) is likely to result in more distinctive and sustainable outcomes.

Not to mention happy students and graduates!