Global - not yet world class

Last year, the University of Edinburgh recruited nearly 7000 students from outside the UK, across undergraduate, masters and PhD programmes. While most of those were from North America, we have 2,959 new students from Europe and Central Asia, 790 from China and 266 from South Asia. There’s an office in Beijing, a newly launched Edinburgh Global scheme, and a Global Horizons festival on the calendar. It’s a claim few universities can make quite so boldly: students at Edinburgh are part of a truly global institution.

But you might not know it. Edinburgh might be a global hub, but if we’re honest, it doesn’t feel like one yet. Do we see as many students from abroad playing key roles in our academic communities or, while we’re on the subject, in our societies or democratic structures as there really ought to be? The answer has to be no, and that’s a problem.

It’s worth noting here that the university’s decision to recruit more international students does not mean fewer places for home students. The university receives a set allocation from the Scottish Funding Council to teach home undergraduates. That’s not going to change. What it does mean, though, is that the coming years are going to see the proportion of non-UK students grow, particularly at postgraduate level. Quite simply, that’s going to make Edinburgh an increasingly exciting, rewarding and vibrant place to study.

But that’s not to say that recruiting students from outside of the UK is without its own challenges and demands. Is it unreasonable to think that students from India are likely to have different expectations and needs as those from Ingliston? Be it help with language, accommodation, differences in academic culture, or just cultural differences full stop, if the University of Edinburgh is going to take students on, it needs to support them.

So what should students who have paid a princely sum to be here expect? Access to materials and study space that suits their own timetables; advice on study skills and careers that meets their needs and is sensitive to their strengths, weaknesses and academic cultures; social activities that allow them to gain the most from their time in Edinburgh; a Director of Studies system that doesn’t wait until people fall behind before it kicks in, and is served by staff with the time and training to deal with individual issues. Absolutely.

But are these different from the needs of all students? Not really. What’s happening as our student body becomes more and more diverse is that it’s become increasingly apparent that our front line services just aren’t set up to handle its needs. It’s not a new problem – an 18-25 undergraduate population is hardly a homogeneous group by any stretch of the imagination. But it is one that’s going to become more acute with increases in the numbers of international students, not to mention postgrads, part-timers and mature students. If this is to remain a world-class university, there’s some overhauling to be done.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. There are great things being done by the International Office, and there are some fantastically committed and knowledgeable Directors of Study, despite the inconsistencies of the system. And there are exciting times ahead: I’m currently engaged in a review of the entire gamut of support at Edinburgh, pushing hard for a system with specially trained and proactive advisors, leaving academics free to advise on what they know most about – the subjects they teach.

At EUSA, meanwhile, we’re in the process of massively improving the way our services and activities cater for international students as well as other groups who haven’t traditionally been engaged by the association. If we can make our unions feel just that little bit more global, that’ll be a big step in itself.