A ‘special relationship’ in higher education? What influence might the US higher education sector have in terms of support for international students in the UK?

Abstract

As international student migration and comparative education research have increased worldwide, greater interdependency between national Higher Education (HE) systems has developed with policy and practice frequently being shared internationally. As a key player in the international student market the United States of America is especially influential over its peers and competitors, including the UK. The market of HE with rising, and variable, tuition fees which has existed in the USA for some time bears a resemblance to recent developments and proposals in the UK. Furthermore there are clear parallels between long standing federal funded access initiatives in the USA and recent UK governments’ widening participation policies. This paper examines whether international student support in institutions across the globe may be influenced similarly by activities in the USA, specifically looking at academic advising and the potential of utilising professional academic advisors to support personal tutoring in the UK.

Keywords:

• international students
• personal tutor
• academic advising
• student support
• training
• comparative education

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Lukasz Daniluk for support in sourcing and referencing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David John Lochtie

Dave Lochtie is a Department Business Manager for Media, Culture and Language and elected Council member at the University of Roehampton with fourteen years’ experience in various roles in education. He is a Deputy Coordinator of the International Higher Education Network of the Association of University Administrators (AUA) and an Executive Committee member of UK Advising and Tutoring (UKAT). His Masters in Leadership and Management in Education was completed at the University of Roehampton and he has presented on issues relating to international students, academic advising and personal tutoring at conferences for the AUA and UKAT. He has been involved with and led many comparative education study trips to locations in Europe, North America and Asia.