New study abroad

The research compared the internationalisation of higher education in 11 of the largest and most active countries in this area. It examined national performance in three categories: openness, access and equity, and quality assurance & degree recognition.One of the reasons Germany scores particularly high is because its policies focus as much on supporting and encouraging domestic students and academics to spend time studying or working abroad as on attracting students and academics from other countries.

The German government aims to have half of all home students spending at least one semester abroad during studies. A 'Go out! Studying around the world' campaign was launched in 2006 by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to support this goal. This was followed by 'Go East!' to encourage German students to study in East and Central Europe.DAAD also sponsors over 55,000 individuals a year with competitive scholarships for Germans studying or doing research abroad, or international students and researchers coming to Germany.Countries such as Australia and the UK scored well in the openness and 'quality assurance' and 'recognition' categories, but went down significantly in the 'access and equity' category. They demonstrated limited support to encourage home students and academics to experience higher education abroad, and provided relatively few financial incentives for international students.

The increasing popularity of joint and dual degree programmes, the introduction of English-taught courses and degree programmes in many non-English speaking countries, as well as the Bologna Process to standardise degree programmes across more than 40 European countries, have opened up new opportunities for students to study abroad.While the US receives by far the most international students, and has five times more overseas branch campuses than any other country, it is losing market share to the UK, Australia,Austria and China.