reported by more than half of the students. Other obstacles concerned immigration regulations and language preparation.
Question 22: Were / are any of the following issues a problem when planning your stay in your selected or preferred destination country?
Getting the resources to finance an education abroad was the outstanding problem reported by more than half of the students (see table 2.16). This is not so surprising, as the survey was mainly carried out through scholarship organisations. Hence, the next important issues are probably the more interesting ones: complicated visa procedures, limited proficiency in the language of the destination country and the lack of agreements between the home university and universities in the destination country.
While financial issues were problem number one for students from all target countries, the picture is more complex for the next important problems. It reveals different patterns for target countries in Asia and Latin America/Russia:
– For Asian students, visa procedures represented the second most important problem, while Latin American and Russian students emphasized the lack of exchange programmes;
– For all students except Russians (who have a better language preparation) and Indians (who have English as an official language), limited language proficiency was the third most important issue.
Problems with getting the financial resources for the stay abroad were stressed most often by respondents from Brazil (71%), Mexico (63%) and Russia (62%). Russian students reported also more problems with the recognition of academic qualifications than students from other target countries. Students from the three Asian target countries and from Russia were more often concerned with personal difficulties than students from other countries. However, this might not
only be caused by different cultural backgrounds but could also be a result of the relatively low age of students from these countries.
Viewed by preferred or selected destination country as shown in table 2.17, difficulties to get a visa were significantly more often reported by students aiming to study in the US (44%) than by students choosing the European Union as destination (25%).
Problems regarding language proficiency concerned potential host students in English speaking destination countries nearly to the same extent as students preferring the European Union (23% as compared to 28%).
Students from non-target countries had to solve more or less the same problems as students from the target countries. The major obstacle was the lack of financial resources (58%), a problem most often stated by Latin American students (67%). Complicated visa procedures (33%), lack of agreements between universities in the home and the destination country (31%) and limited language proficiency (27%) were the next often stated difficulties.
Table 2.16 (All students from the target countries)
Problems encountered when planning the stay in the selected or preferred destination country - by country of origin (percentages*) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Country of origin Total
Brazil ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ China India Mexico Russia Thailand
Getting the financial resources for studying abroad 71 49 47 63 62 46 57
Lack of agreements between home university and
universities in the destination country 31 24 24 39 43 23 30 Complicated visa procedures / strict requirements 27 39 31 18 29 28 29
Limited proficiency in the language of the
destination country 28 31 22 26 26 27 27
Difficulties with the recognition of credits / academic
qualifications obtained in my home country 21 25 23 19 33 21 23 The study programme I wanted was not available 18 24 23 19 29 22 22
Fear of social exclusion as an international student 15 24 18 10 13 26 18
Personal difficulties to stay far from home /
homesickness 13 18 15 9 17 20 15
Parental opposition against study abroad 7 14 12 7 13 15 11
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Count (n) (3077) (2531) (1499) (2378) (1749) (2471) (13705)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Source: Student questionnaire on "Perceptions of European Higher Education in Third Countries"
Question 22: Were / are any of the following issues a problem when planning your stay in your selected or preferred destination country from 19?
Sample: Students responding to paper based surveys and respondents to the online survey * Points 4 and 5 on a scale from 1 = "No problem at all" to 5 = "To a very large extent"
Respondents from Sub-Saharan Africa were affected by complicated visa procedures to a much higher extent (45%) than other participants while, unlike in the target countries, Asian students were not above average. A lack of institutional agreements was seen as an obstacle by 44 percent of Latin Americans, while only 18 percent of Australian and 13 percent of North American students had the same problem. North Africans more than others reported difficulties to find a suitable study programme (21% compared to 14% on average) and had more personal problems like homesickness (20%, average: 10%).
More than half of international students in the US identified complicated visa procedures as the major problem when planning their stay. Especially Chinese students (78%) were confronted with this kind of difficulty. Insufficient financial resources were an obstacle for one third of US students from all home countries. One fifth of the respondents encountered difficulties with the recognition of their home qualifications.
Table 2.17 (All students from the target countries)
Problems encountered when planning the stay in the selected or preferred destination country - by destination country (percentages*) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Destination country/region Total
EU/EFTA ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ US AUS Other Getting the financial resources for studying abroad 60 51 51 51 57
Lack of agreements between my home university and
universities in the destination country 32 27 25 30 31 Complicated visa procedures / strict requirements 25 44 28 26 29 Limited proficiency in the language of the destination
country 28 23 23 28 27
Difficulties with the recognition of credits / academic
Qualifications obtained in my home country 23 26 23 21 23 The study programme I wanted was not available 21 22 24 24 22 Fear of social exclusion as an international student 16 22 20 21 18 Personal difficulties to stay far from home /
homesickness 13 20 18 18 15
Parental opposition against study abroad 10 13 14 14 11
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Count (n) (9228) (2345) (797) (1091) (13461)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Source: Student questionnaire on "Perceptions of European Higher Education in Third Countries"
Question 22: Were / are any of the following issues a problem when planning your stay in your selected or preferred destination country from 19?
Sample: Students responding to paper based surveys and respondents to the online survey * Points 4 and 5 on a scale from 1 = "No problem at all" to 5 = "To a very large extent"
Education staff members do not differ much from the students in the perception of their students’ major difficulties (see table 2.18). However, personal issues were considered more often by staff than by students. The most important problems from the perspective of education staff is the acquisition of sufficient financial resources (55%), getting a visa (48%) and limitations in the students’ language proficiency (44%). Difficulties with the recognition of academic qualifications
obtained in the home country and deficiency of agreements between the home university and universities in the destination country were also mentioned by many staff members (38% each). The fear of social exclusion (26%) and parental opposition against study abroad (22%) were seen as problems by a noticeably higher share of staff than of their students.
The regional pattern emerging from the student survey is confirmed by the responses of education staff. Difficulties due to complicated visa procedures or strict requirements concerned Asians to a higher degree than Latin Americans. More than half of the Indian staff members (55%), but only 39 percent of the Brazilians considered visa regulations as a source of problems. For Chinese and Thai staff, visa issues are even the most important problem and rank before financial issues and language problems.
Financial problems were most often perceived by Latin Americans. Three quarters of both Brazilian and Mexican staff members saw an important problem to bring up the resources for the stay abroad. About 70 percent of Russians and Indians stated the same difficulties, while only less than half of Chinese (43%) and Thai (36%) respondents did so as well.
Table 2.18 (All education staff from the target countries)
Problems encountered by students who pursue an international education - by country of origin (percentages*) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Country of origin Total
Brazil ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ China India Mexico Russia Thailand
Getting the financial resources for studying
abroad 76 43 67 75 70 36 55
Lack of agreements between the home university
and universities in the destination country 46 28 41 40 49 35 38 Complicated visa procedures/ strict
requirements 39 51 55 47 47 48 48
Limited proficiency in the language of the
destination country 44 39 36 56 43 47 44
Difficulties with the recognition of credits/ academic
qualifications obtained in home country 30 39 49 38 45 33 38 Fear of social exclusion as an
international student 22 20 19 18 28 36 26
Parental opposition against study abroad 14 17 26 12 21 33 22
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Count (n) (104) (253) (123) (175) (174) (338) (1167)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Source: Survey on teaching staff, international officers and educational agents
Question 11: From your experience, to what extent have the following issues been an obstacle for students from your country / institution who pursue an international education?
* Points 4 and 5 on a scale from 1 = "No problem at all" to 5 = "To a very large extent"
Limited language proficiency was seen as an obstacle by more than half of the Mexican academic staff, compared to only one third of the Indians. Lack of agreements between universities in the home country and the destination country was seen as a problem by half of
the Russian respondents and 46 percent of the Brazilians, but only by a comparatively low proportion of Chinese staff (28%).
Interviewees in the target countries were asked about “disadvantages” and of an education abroad. While the most recurrent opinion was that “there were no disadvantages at all”, interviewees (mostly experts and rectors/international officers) in several target countries pointed out that students would loose their personal and professional networks, considered as very important in countries like China, India and Russia. Brain drain was not considered as a problem in China and India, or at the utmost as a temporary one. It was however seen as a problem by Mexicans and by some Russian interviewees.
Asked more specifically about the obstacles students had to face, the answers widely confirmed the results of the student and staff survey. “On the issue of obstacles for Chinese who wish to study abroad, the three experts agreed in unisono: money, language and visa. Although the number of Chinese students going abroad is sizable (100 000 per year), it is just a small percentage of the number of youth who do not have access to Chinese higher education for a first degree or who wish to further their education for a second. For the vast majority, the cost of a foreign education is still unaffordable. Language is another major obstacle, especially since some schools and countries have become stricter in checking language proficiency of Chinese applicants. Mentioning of visa as an obstacle almost exclusively points at the tightening of US visa policies since “9/11” and does not apply much to access to Europe” (country report China). For parents in different target countries, the financial burden was the most important obstacle, but they also mentioned personal problems like the distance from family and home or the “loss of identity”. Only Brazilians had a somewhat different approach and mostly underlined the difficulties that students may have upon return from abroad.
A lack of agreements between universities was less emphasized in the interviews. Another obstacle which was however frequently pointed out was the lack of information on study opportunities (see also section 3.2 below).