ESN UK opens the first edition of International Student Perspectives UK, a survey designed to record the experiences, barriers, and opinions of international students in relation to the UK.

 

From Friday 24th March to Wednesday 31st May, the survey is open to completion by international students currently in the UK (on any type of mobility), and all non-UK students. As such, it intends to provide a comparative study on issues that affect international students in the UK and elsewhere, aiming to determine the benefits and barriers to study in the UK. The survey intends to extend on prior research with the Erasmus Student Network, such as ESNsurvey and the SiEM project, to provide greater quantitative clarity on UK-specific key issues.

For students in the UK, areas of research include evaluating student support at universities (including support provided by ESN UK sections), barriers to mobility, and opinions on the UK after study. These aim to quantify UK-specific issues facing international students, such as visa bureaucracy and increased programme cost, as well as assessing the UK’s current position within the European Higher Education Area.

 

For those that have studied outside the UK, the survey focuses on their own barriers to mobility, in order to make direct comparisons between students in the UK and elsewhere. Questions also address attitudes towards the UK, with recent research by Universities UK International citing this as an important area of future research within the sector.

 

Through a report following the survey’s closing at the end of May, ESN UK’s aim is to improve the experiences of international students in the UK and abroad, and provide a student voice to these conversations by publishing these results and presenting them to key stakeholders.

 

Find out more about the survey here, or fill it out here.