News
February
2005
World Courses attract £100 million into Wales Recent figures show
that the number of international students in Wales this year has risen by
over 7%, bringing an estimated £100 million total income into the Welsh
economy. What’s more, the figures show that students from more than 90 non-EU
countries are choosing Wales for a wide variety of subjects in response
to career opportunities in their own country.
The figures were released today by the Wales International Consortium (WIC), an organisation working to support Education UK Wales and responsible for attracting international students into higher education in Wales . WIC collects the recruitment statistics directly from the institutions in Wales and makes them available to key stakeholders such as the Welsh Assembly Government and the British Council.
The figures indicate that international students are attracted by contemporary subjects that are directly applicable in their own country, such as Conservation and Forest Ecosystems offered at the University of Wales Bangor, e-Commerce at the University of Glamorgan, International Politics at the University of Wales Aberystwyth and International Hotel Management at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.
Virginia West, the Director of WIC said “with such an attractive portfolio of courses and subjects Wales is taking a lead role in offering diversity to international students. The variety of high-ranking courses to choose from means that international students are taking home valuable expertise to use in their own country”.
Subjects such as Media, Journalism, Art and Design are also well represented in the new recruitment figures. Cardiff University School of Journalism has shown sustained success in attracting international students and there has been a 10% increase in the number of international students across Wales choosing courses that lead directly to employment in the creative industries.
The International Film School at the University of Wales Newport and the animation and digital arts courses at Swansea Institute of Higher Education and the North East Wales Institute have all seen rapid growth in the number of international students this year.
The Principal and Chief Executive of Swansea Institute of Higher Education (SIHE) said “International students can see the career potential in subjects such as media, arts and journalism, and the role these subjects play in developing countries’ economies”.
“At SIHE there is a direct relationship between our digital animation course, local media industry and our annual animation festival. This relationship with industry is what makes courses in Wales so valuable to the world economy”
In addition to the increase in international students choosing creative and contemporary subjects in Wales , traditional choices such as Business, Management, IT, Law, Economics and Engineering have also reported increased success. At the University of Wales Swansea , the School of Engineering has attracted a total of 247 international students from 28 non-EU countries.
Steve Lawrence, the Chair of WIC and Director of Development and External Affairs at the University of Wales Aberystwyth said “This is very exciting news for Wales . These figures are testimony to the quality higher education we offer across the country”.
“Not only have we maintained success in attracting international students onto traditional choice courses, we have demonstrated that Wales has the diversity of courses to respond to the current and future needs of countries throughout the world”