By Prof Peter Heard, Provost, Sunway University
The growth of international student mobility – whether that be students going overseas for the whole of their education or for shorter periods, such as a semester abroad or a study trip – has been one of the defining features of higher education over the last 20 to 30 years. Malaysian students have always shown a keen interest in study abroad opportunities, with students opting in particular to study in the UK, the US and Australia. The impact of covid-19 pandemic has thus been keenly felt amongst Malaysian higher education students, with the sudden imposition of travel restrictions, meaning many students simply have not been able to travel; while others who have travelled have found themselves isolated in their accommodation, unable to attend classes face-to-face, or enjoy all the ancillary benefits of overseas travel, such as visiting new places, being exposed to different cultures, and even opportunities to work.
It has been estimated that by the end of 2020, student mobility had dropped to somewhere between 50% and 10% of its pre-pandemic levels. This has hit both international students and host universities around the world very hard indeed. The importance of international students to universities in host countries has meant that they have sought innovative ways to build and maintain relationships with both existing and potential students. The default response of most universities to the closure of campuses has been to shift to fully online delivery, and many existing international students have thus been able to at least continue with their courses from their home country. Time differences – the UK is 7 or 8 hours behind Malaysia, for example, and the USA is 12 or more hours behind – has meant some very late night or very early morning classes! Ready access to online portals, the stability of internet infrastructure and other hurdles have further complicated matters. The problems of following courses from afar are only part of the story. A much bigger impact has been that the loss of the experience of living and studying overseas, which for many is really a primary factor in choosing to study abroad. The result has been that many students have decided to postpone the start of their programme, defer their studies, or simply have decided to study closer to home. A recent study of students in Hong Kong, for example, showed that over 80% of those originally planning to study abroad had now decided to either remain in Hong Kong or to study elsewhere in Asia.
Conversely, however, the shift to online has actually benefitted others, providing opportunities for those students that would not normally have gone overseas or participated in student mobility programmes – the costs of which are prohibitive for the vast majority of people – to do so. Sunway University, for example, has been working with its overseas partners to provide virtual student exchanges and enable students to take courses from other institutions. The emergence of virtual exchange programmes has also opened up the world of student mobility to students that are traditionally reluctant to travel. UK students, for example, are typically very reluctant to spend time overseas, but through virtual exchanges with our UK partner university, Lancaster University, we have seen that more UK students willing to engage, with the result that many more of them have taken part in exchange programmes with us. This shift means that not only are those students able to experience something of Malaysia, it also means that our own students get many more opportunities to study with and get to know their counterparts in the UK.
So, what is the future of overseas study likely to look like as we emerge from the pandemic? One thing that is certain is that the days of all courses and programmes being 100% face-to-face are well and truly over. Most students are understandably eager to return to campus as soon as possible, but they don’t want to spend their lives sat in large lecture theatres as they did before – they want much more flexibility in terms of both where and when they study. So, most universities are now planning for so-called hybrid teaching, with some students in class and others online, and with some elements of the course online and other elements, such as small group tutorials, laboratory classes, and workshops face-to-face. The fact that many courses will be available at least partly, if not fully, online, means that opportunities for virtual student mobility will not just remain, but are likely to be expanded, allowing most students – not just the lucky few – to join classes from other universities, and also to take part in student exchange programmes form the comfort of their own campus or, who knows, whilst enjoying their vacation in yet another location altogether!
From talking to our own students, and to colleagues at other universities both in Malaysia and elsewhere, it seems that the demand for an international experience remains strong, but it is likely that students may spend less time overseas, instead taking part of their programme locally, and as the study of Hong Kong students has shown, it may also mean that, rather than travelling to faraway places like the UK, US, students may opt to study in countries closer to home. Whatever transpires over the coming months and, it is certain that universities will need to adapt to the changing trends and work hard to ensure that every student, be it physically or virtually, can have an international experience as part of their studies – that is something that we, at Sunway University, are working hard to achieve.
