International students contribute roughly £41.9 billion per annum to the UK economy and make an important contribution to its cultural and intellectual diversity and talent.With the recent decline of international students entering the UK, student recruitment remains a top priority in HE and continues to be critical to the sustainability and success of its universities.Elizabeth Newall, Senior Sector Specialist at Jisc, and Yining Tang, Digital Education Adviser, University of Oxford, took the stage at BETT’s Ahead auditorium in London to share some of the ‘digital shocks’ that international students experience.The session focused on a piece of research published by Jisc and the Portulans Institute. The work summarises student feedback on their digital experiences and compares them to the Network Readiness Index (NRI) which ranks the digital readiness of countries, to understand how a student’s experience of their home country’s digital infrastructure can impact their digital learning experience once they arrive in the UK.

Learning across digital borders

“Given the pervasive use of digital throughout the student journey, we can’t understand international students’ learning experience without evaluating their experiences of digital. Students might find it challenging to adjust to the expectations of using technology for learning in the UK. Or, they might not be accustomed to having reliable wi-fi, leading them to pay for mobile data to access online learning resources in the UK,” explained Newall.“Furthermore, some UK institutions assume reliable and free wi-fi access is a global standard and fail to explain what eduroam is, and that wi-fi can usually be accessed for free in civic spaces as well as on campus. By understanding the needs of international students, and prioritising an equitable experience for them, we have the potential to forge a world-class digital learning experience that supports the needs of all students.”The presentation took a special look at China, India, Pakistan and Nigeria as four countries which are of particular interest to UK HE student recruitment, and have NRI rankings of 20, 60, 90 and 106 respectively. Newall explored the wi-fi and cellular trends in these four countries as well as differences in their levels of digital education and capabilities.Newall noted that previous NRI reports suggest that countries ranked with an NRI of 50 and below struggled the most with a digital pivot to online teaching and learning. A significant urban and rural divide, in terms of access to the internet, was also apparent in other reports.

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Challenges and barriers to access

Language was also found to have an impact on some international students, said Newall. When asked if English was their first language, there was quite a variation between the countries observed. Notably, only 30% of students from India said it was, down to 5% of students from Pakistan, and no students from China.“The impact being that many of the students who don’t have English as a first language rely on translation tools that they pay for personally, like Chat GPT Plus and Grammarly to develop their English for academic purposes – revealing some inequity,” she added.When it came to previous use of technology in education in the home countries of these international students, there were stark differences too.“Most students, irrespective of location, talked about the rapid increase of use of technology in recent years. However, with exception to China – where 87% of students reported having used a virtual learning provider before coming to the UK – the rest of students reported limited access to technology within education environments. With China seeing heavy government restrictions on use of software applications,” she added.According to Newall, students crossing borders for education face a number of ‘digital shocks’ when trying to access systems.“Our focus groups revealed that some international students who logged on university systems in their home country were then locked out of their systems when they came to the UK. The reason for that being they had changed their mobile phone or sim card and had not been given any advice, or been alerted by their institutions, on what they needed to do in order to retain access once in the UK.”Newall shared links to practical strategies to enhance recruitment, improve teaching and support services to help foster more positive and inclusive learning experiences for international students.

A digital transition case study

The second half of the session saw Tang, a former Oxford graduate, present some insightful findings from a 2023 survey focused on the digital experiences of students attending the University of Oxford in the UK.“When embarking on its digital transformation, it was important for the University to understand the digital experience of all its students,” explained Tang.“We wanted to know how students use digital tools to support their learning. How they wish they could use digital tools to support their learning, and what they need from the University to bridge this gap. We also knew that international students made up a big part of our student body – more than 12,000 students. Including 23% of undergraduates and 65% of graduates,” she added.The survey involved a diverse range of international and national students to give a broader understanding of digital learning needs, including specific feedback on digital transformation, what students wanted and didn’t want, as well as interviews and focus groups.“We found the digital transition to Oxford involved a diverse spectrum of student experiences. For example, a postgraduate from France was quite comfortable using tools such as Teams and Outlook prior to coming to the UK. However, an undergraduate from Tanzania found their induction week really stressful due to a lack of information and expressed the need for more guidance to be given and taught before arrival on campus.”Citing students from India, Pakistan and the US, Tang mentioned how all three struggled with some skills and tools required to complete academic tasks on arrival, such as reference tools and managers that are essential for academic writing.Interviewed students, including those from France and Pakistan further expressed frustration with having to constantly use two factor authentication on their mobile devices in order to access different systems due to differing digital regulations and governance in their home countries.“It’s important to remember that this digital transition does not stop when international students arrive on campus either, but continues throughout the whole process of their degrees,” said Tang.Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, Tang revealed that students were also found to be less confident in managing their digital time and maintaining their digital wellbeing.She cited an undergraduate student from India who expressed the need for more guidance, or a blueprint timetable, to help manage learning online. While a postgraduate student from China voiced the need for support to help them disconnect from digital spaces.In terms of accessing different resources, students expressed that they were not always aware of what resources were available to them, or where to begin locating them.“It’s worth highlighting the unique Oxford context as a collegiate university where students have to navigate colleges, departments and the central University which can make things slightly confusing,” she added.The need for advice on how to ethically use Chat GPT and other GenAI tools was also voiced by undergraduates from countries such as Germany and Australia.

Transforming insights into action

As a result of the study, Tang demonstrated how the University of Oxford has made a number of steps to better support its students.“Oxford has now established its first student-facing app - MyOxford, which provides students with quick and easy access to essential University systems and services, and gives them quicker access to central resources to help students better manage their time.”Similar to many other institutions, Oxford has developed guidance on the use of GenAI tools in teaching and learning, as well as a toolkit to facilitate more inclusive teaching and learning support for a diverse student population.Concluding the research shared by Jisc, the NRI and the University of Oxford, Newall shared several useful recommendations from the report to help UK HE institutions assist international students with their digital transition pre-arrival, on-arrival and during their degree.‘Ultimately, we must remember that international students are not one homogeneous group. We absolutely need to consider the differences between global regions because it’s these differences that impact the expectations they have,” closed Newall.

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