The ¡°big four¡± anglophone university sectors are ¡°throwing away¡± their advantage in attracting international students through inconsistent policies and an intergovernmental ¡°tug of war¡±, according to a former UK universities minister.

Many countries have introduced restrictions of some kind on overseas students in recent years ¨C including the?biggest markets of the US, the UK, Australia and Canada.

Although he said the concept of the ¡°big four¡± was increasingly anachronistic in a more multipolar world, Jo Johnson,?twice universities minister?under the former Conservative government, said institutions will be particularly frustrated by these developments.

¡°They are in the process of throwing away what is perhaps one of their greatest strategic assets, and that¡¯s the ability to attract talent from all around the world to study in their institutions.¡±

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Policy around international education is subject?to a ¡°tug of war¡± between competing government departments?in all four countries, he?told delegates at the Going 51³Ô¹Ï conference in London.

¡°The tensions between those departments¡­leads to great policy volatility and a kind of whipsaw effect that is extremely unsettling for the families of potential international students who therefore look at those markets with a degree of concern and wariness.¡±

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Large, complicated organisations such as universities need a minimum level of policy reliability, he warned delegates at the British Council event.

¡°The world is changing rapidly and my frustration on behalf of universities¡­in the big four countries is that conflicted and confusing government policies are going to mean that they are not going to be the ones that primarily benefit from the new opportunities that are emerging.¡±

Johnson said the?erosion of these countries¡¯ market share will accelerate, as they face growing competition from emerging destinations pursuing more systematic strategies and a student body more interested in new methods of learning.

¡°They are going to be seeking lower-cost options, shorter periods of study overseas than in the past, and they are going to be seeking to take advantage more than in the past of transnational education, digital delivery and modular forms of provision.¡±

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Johnson said the political consensus in favour of international education had broken down in recent years amid increasing public concern around immigration.

¡°It needs to be rebuilt¡­and it needs to be deconflicted from a lot of the very confusing and difficult debates around immigration, border control, cultural issues which societies are grappling with.

¡°It needs to be deconflicted from those debates so that it can continue to play an important part in contributing towards all of our successes as knowledge economies.¡±

Andy Westwood, professor of public policy at the University of Manchester, said he agreed it was frustrating that governments were unable to see their error, but that the situation was unlikely to improve any time soon.

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He added: ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯d all like that certainty, I just feel that we¡¯re going to have to operate in an environment that is inherently uncertain and is evolving and changing in very different ways.

¡°Getting to a reasonable position seems almost impossible to achieve even if we might want it.¡±

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patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com