It's Not Easy Being English

But few countries can match Australia's main selling point. Surveys suggest that its sunny outdoors image works strongly to its advantage among international students. "Why go to Singapore," asks Veronica Lasanowski of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, "when you can get the whole package—surfing and going to the beach—in Australia?"

Why indeed? Yet no country can afford to throw in the towel. Cuts in government spending have forced colleges to look elsewhere for money. Overseas recruits have thus become an increasingly critical source of cash: in Britain the average university now looks to foreign students to provide at least 10 percent of its income.

Other trends could soon make things even more desperate. Today China is one of the biggest sources of traveling students. But for how much longer? The country is now busy developing its own elite institutions and ordinary colleges. If this trend continues, the developed world is going to lose its largest client. The scramble for business in the Anglo world is already ferocious, while the market is expanding. Just wait till it starts to contract.

© 2007