Almost half of the students from the target countries had considerable knowledge of higher education and study opportunities of only three out of 25 EU member states: The United Kingdom, France and Germany.
Question 24: For which of the following countries do you have considerable knowledge of higher education and study opportunities?
About 90 percent of students stated to have considerable knowledge of higher education and study opportunities in at least one of the member states of the European Union. There were also a large number of respondents who were informed about higher education in two or even more EU countries. However, most students only had substantial knowledge of higher education in the United Kingdom, Germany and France; smaller groups of Spain and Italy (Latin Americans), Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria. The number of students who were well-informed about other countries was negligible. On the other hand, more students were well-informed about the US than about any European country, and large proportions had knowledge of Australia and Canada. In detail (and rank order), a substantial share of respondents was relatively familiar with the following countries (see also table 1.4):
– United States (58 %), – United Kingdom (54 %) – Germany (44 %), – France (40 %), – Canada (33 %), – Australia (30 %), – Spain (24 %), – Italy (16 %), – New Zealand (12 %), – Portugal (10 %), – The Netherlands (10 %), – Sweden (9 %) and – Austria (8 %).
The share of students who mentioned other EU members ranged between zero and four percent. Knowledge of higher education in the new EU member states is extremely limited. With a proportion of two percent the Czech Republic and Poland are the best known among these
countries. Altogether only six percent stated considerable knowledge about at least one of the ten new members.
Table 1.4 (All students from the target countries)
Countries for which students have considerable knowledge of higher education and study opportunities - by country of origin (percentages, multiple response possible) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Country of origin Total
Brazil ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ China India Mexico Russia Thailand
Austria 7 4 13 7 5 12 8 Belgium 5 4 3 7 4 1 4 Cyprus 0 0 2 0 3 0 1 Czech Republic 1 1 2 3 8 0 2 Denmark 5 6 7 5 4 3 5 Estonia 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 France 49 38 25 57 46 16 40 Finland 3 4 4 4 7 2 4 Germany 66 34 36 59 41 17 44 Greece 2 2 3 3 2 1 2 Hungary 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 Ireland 3 4 6 5 4 1 3 Italy 29 8 12 27 8 6 16 Latvia 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 Lithuania 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 Luxembourg 1 1 1 2 2 0 1 Malta 0 1 2 0 5 0 1 Poland 1 1 3 1 4 0 2 Portugal 36 1 2 4 2 1 10 Slovakia 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Slovenia 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Spain 37 4 7 70 7 3 24 Sweden 8 9 11 10 10 4 9 The Netherlands 10 17 9 10 5 6 10 United Kingdom 46 62 67 48 48 60 54 USA 62 55 69 51 51 61 58 Canada 40 30 33 58 17 13 33 Australia 26 32 52 22 12 37 30 New Zealand 12 13 14 6 5 19 12
Other major destination 15 9 9 16 9 11 12
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Total 467 340 398 477 319 279 387
Count (n) (3131) (2530) (1536) (2400) (1662) (2356) (13615)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Source: Student questionnaire on "Perceptions of European Higher Education in Third Countries"
Question 24: For which of the following countries do you have considerable knowledge of higher education and study opportunities?
In general, respondents at higher levels of studies are better informed about study opportunities and higher education in different countries. PhD students are usually the best informed, with an average knowledge of three EU member states.
Students taking part in the global survey were generally better informed. This is partly linked to their more advanced level of studies, and surely related to the way they accessed the survey: online, searching for information on study opportunities in Europe. In particular, respondents to the global online survey had more extensive knowledge of European destinations, including the smaller countries. However, like in the target countries, knowledge of higher education opportunities in the new member states was extremely limited.
The knowledge of education staff from the target countries is also limited to only a few member states: The United Kingdom (54%), France (37%), Germany (32%), Spain (16%), Italy (12%), the Netherlands (11%), Austria (10%) and Sweden (8%). All other EU member states were mentioned by less than six percent of the respondents.
A country-by-country comparison of the knowledge of education staff shows that respondents from Brazil, Mexico and Russia most often stated Germany and France. In contrast, respondents from China and India were more often familiar with the United Kingdom (see table 1.5). The US was best-known by staff members from India, Thailand and (neighbouring) Mexico. Further, all Asian respondents were relatively well-informed about Australia. On the other hand, a considerable number of education staff from Thailand (26%) and India (18%) had no information at all about higher education and study opportunities in the EU.28
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The above pattern – better information levels about English-speaking destinations in the Asian countries and about continental Europe in the Latin America and Russia – needs to be weighed with a view to a the organisation which implemented the survey. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) coordinated the study in Brazil and Mexico, EduFrance in Russia the British Council in India and Thailand. Information levels about Germany clearly mirror information activities carried out by the DAAD in Latin America; the fact that a continental European organisation (Nuffic) implemented the survey in China may contribute to the slightly minor focus on English-speaking countries compared to India and Thailand.
Table 1.5 (All education staff from the target countries)
Countries for which respondents have considerable knowledge of higher education and study opportunities - by country of origin (percentages, multiple response possible) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Country of origin Total
Brazil ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ China India Mexico Russia Thailand
Austria 7 8 12 8 2 16 10 Belgium 8 3 4 10 7 1 5 Cyprus 0 4 1 0 0 0 1 Czech Republic 1 3 0 2 4 0 2 Denmark 8 10 3 6 2 3 5 Estonia 0 4 0 0 1 1 1 France 57 41 22 65 66 16 40 Finland 0 8 3 5 5 0 4 Germany 67 32 35 49 43 15 35 Greece 0 5 0 1 1 1 2 Hungary 1 1 1 1 2 0 1 Ireland 0 6 3 4 1 0 2 Italy 36 10 7 20 12 6 13 Latvia 0 4 0 0 1 1 1 Lithuania 0 3 0 0 1 1 1 Luxembourg 1 4 1 0 0 0 1 Malta 0 2 0 0 4 0 1 Poland 0 5 1 1 0 1 2 Portugal 53 3 0 2 1 1 6 Slovakia 0 2 0 1 1 0 1 Slovenia 0 3 0 1 0 0 1 Spain 51 7 3 67 3 2 17 Sweden 6 15 8 11 5 3 8 The Netherlands 12 18 11 15 2 7 11 United Kingdom 51 74 73 57 36 57 59 USA 62 62 88 80 40 74 67 Canada 37 41 43 60 10 22 34 Australia 18 45 70 24 7 43 36 New Zealand 5 24 19 9 1 24 16 Other country 6 3 5 10 1 4 4 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Total 488 449 412 507 259 297 385 Count (n) (101) (251) (109) (169) (165) (338) (1133) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Source: Survey on teaching staff, international officers and educational agents
Question 18: For which of the following countries do you have considerable knowledge of higher education and study opportunities?
Most foreign students taking part in the US study with a non-European background were only informed about higher education in the United Kingdom (75%), Germany (40%) or France (33%).
The results of the interviews with higher education experts, rectors and parents in all six target countries confirm the above described tendencies. Interviewees perceived (or attached importance to) a reduced Europe only, containing France, Germany, the UK (if not viewed separately), and to a lesser extent Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
For the Russian interviewees, Europe was represented by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands. In the Latin American countries, too, interviewees perceived important differences between the EU member states, both within the European Union before enlargement and between the old and the new member states. In the case of Mexico and Brazil, “core countries” were Germany, France and the UK but also Italy, Spain and Portugal. In the Asian countries, the idea of Europe was even more reduced: especially the interviewed parents rarely had a notion of a Europe beyond the UK (if included in Europe), Germany and France.
Like the students and staff members who responded to the survey, interviewees saw considerable divergence between the higher education systems and living conditions in different European countries, for example as far as the quality of higher education, reputation and employability of the degrees and affordability are concerned.
An excerpt from the Chinese country report illustrates these findings and concludes from the interviews that the EU is insufficiently visible in China, that it has no clear identity and that “the concept of a unified Europe is (…) relatively irrelevant.” “The EU member states are considered individual states rather than members of the EU and judged on their individual merits. (…) The Chinese are convinced that there are significant differences between the education systems of the various EU members in terms of characteristics, quality, reputation and cost.”
Rectors and internationalisation staff in India emphasized that it was “difficult to generalise (…) as even within each state, certain universities were better than others. Furthermore, the disputes (specifically the constitution issue) among the 25 member states in EU were seen as a disadvantage and had a bearing on possible cooperation with them in higher education.”