|
|
Other accounts—given by immigrant students and returnee graduates—depicted a common experience of failure or expected failure in a highly competitive Hong Kong school system, which prompted their emigration and that of their families. The claim that the HKCEE has life and death implications was not exceptional. At the same time, individuals consistently expressed the belief that employers prefer overseas graduates and that the overseas degree is, therefore, inherently more valuable than a degree conferred by a university in Hong Kong. The contradictory nature of these claims is explored in this book.
The Broader Context to International Education
International higher education is a multi-billion dollar industry (IIE, 2008; UNESCO, 2001). It is reflected in the proliferation of language schools, satellite university campuses, distance- and e-learning courses, international MBA programmes, and national education brands, as well as in the explicitly entrepreneurial activities of many higher education institutions. Most significantly, it includes the international mobility of 2.8 million tertiary students—twice the number of 20 years ago—and this number is predicted to increase to 5.8 million by 2020 (British Council, 2004; OECD, 2007). These students provide host countries and individual educational institutions with a substantial external source of revenue through tuition and other fees. Recent changes in immigration policy in several countries reflect the desire to attract and retain more international students. Most striking of all, however, is the increasingly entrenched and highly uneven geography of this emerging market. The international mobility of students has generally followed distinctive geographical patterns: from developing to developed countries, from east to west, and from non-English-speaking to English-speaking countries.