Category: Voices

  • How Japan and India will shape the next decade’s workforce

    How Japan and India will shape the next decade’s workforce

    Japan and India are entering a new phase of partnership, built not on formal communiqués but on the steady movement of people. Though they speak different languages, both share respect, reliability, and a quiet focus on getting things done, setting the tone for success.

    Japan today is facing a demographic shift that’s changing its economy and workforce, with labour shortages affecting everything from technology and healthcare to manufacturing, construction, and advanced engineering.

    In response, the Japanese government has introduced new pathways, including the SSW visa, more English-taught university programs, and stronger internationalisation policies led by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).

    While Japan has been actively reaching out to other countries for skilled talent, India is uniquely positioned to be the partner to bridge the gap at scale.

    India, with its young, skilled, and increasingly global talent pool, is emerging as a natural partner to Japan. With the world’s largest youth population and a fast-growing base of STEM-trained graduates, India has the scale and capacity to make the goal of 500,000 Indian professionals working in Japan by 2030 realistic.

    Against this backdrop, Japan and India are helping convert intent into outcomes by building a three-pillared, structured talent mobility bridge that works across the full continuum — from early awareness in schools to education, language acquisition, and workforce readiness — addressing the real frictions that often slow cross-border mobility.

    Through Japanese language labs embedded in Indian schools and institutions, students are developing linguistic and cultural fluency early, reframing Japanese not as a barrier but as a long-term enabler.

    This ecosystem approach is reinforced through joint initiatives with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), which provides critical institutional linkage to Japan’s evolving workforce needs, and through the digital platform Navi Japan, the official platform for Study in Japan from South Asia. Together, these efforts are helping align India’s scale of talent with Japan’s demand, making mobility not episodic, but systemic and sustainable.

    Moreover, in the last 11 months, interest in Japan is rising sharply among young Indians. Over 25,000 students have engaged with study-in-Japan initiatives through webinars, school interactions, and fairs, reaching more than 1,000 schools across 123 cities, from Tier 1 to Tier 3 locations. This early-stage outreach is vital to building the pipeline that will support Japan’s goal of welcoming half a million Indian professionals.

    In just two months, Navi Japan attracted over 12,000 users, 11,000 of them from India, generating more than 125,000 engagements. These aren’t casual clicks — students are spending close to three minutes per visit, actively exploring degree programs, scholarships, English-taught options, and guidance on living costs, showing serious consideration.

    What they’re searching for is just as telling: business programs top the list with more than 10,000 searches, followed by STEM at over 9,000, strong interest in AI and machine learning with more than 7,300 searches, and thousands more in robotics, computer science, and economics. These are exactly the skills Japan needs most, clearly showing how closely Indian student demand aligns with Japan’s workforce priorities.

    What’s equally interesting is where this interest is coming from. While cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Kolkata remain highly active, momentum is quickly spreading beyond the major metros.

    Education isn’t just about earning a degree; it is the most reliable pathway to long-term workforce integration

    Students from cities such as Indore, Lucknow, and Bhopal are appearing in growing numbers, with engagement now seen across 142 cities in India — full coverage in Tier 1, around 50% in Tier 2, and a growing 20% in Tier 3. Students outside major cities increasingly see Japan as a realistic, future-focused option for education and upward mobility.

    This is why student mobility has emerged as the real engine of the Japan-India relationship. Education isn’t just about earning a degree; it is the most reliable pathway to long-term workforce integration. Students who study in Japan gain more than academic knowledge — they absorb the culture, expectations, and work ethic — leaving them better placed to meet language requirements, qualify for SSW pathways, and move into the specialised roles where Japan’s talent shortages are most acute.

    A critical part of this is what happens after education and how students move from the classroom into the workplace. Skills-focused initiatives are helping students prepare for Japan’s workforce through practical, Japan-relevant problem-solving, including programs such as the TechBridge challenge, which introduces learners to real-world domains and early exposure to Japan. These efforts connect education, skills, and career pathways seamlessly.

    Both nations stand to gain considerably from the deepening of this mobility corridor. Japan secures the skilled workforce it urgently needs to sustain its economy, while India gains new avenues for global employment, technical upskilling and international collaboration.

    If current momentum continues, the prospect of 500,000 Indian professionals working in Japan by 2030 is not only achievable but transformative. The real story, however, is not about numbers, it is about two nations building a long-term, mutually beneficial partnership anchored in talent, education, and opportunity.

    There is a mobility anecdote that I love sharing. Indians grow up using Suzuki vehicles, listening to Sony music systems, or working with Panasonic technologies and yet few consciously think of them as Japanese; they are simply familiar and reliable, and that’s a powerful lesson for talent mobility.

    When people move not as outsiders, but, as trusted contributors, integration becomes natural rather than negotiated, and that’s when mobility stops being a policy goal and becomes a lived reality.

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  • Today’s learners have changed – can universities keep up? 

    Today’s learners have changed – can universities keep up? 

    Higher education has always prided itself on staying ahead of change. Yet, the last few years have reshaped how people learn, work, and define ‘engagement’ much faster than most institutions anticipated. Engagement is no longer a hand raised in a lecture hall. It may be a late night discussion board post, or a student quietly rewatching a lecture at 1.25x – 1.5x speed – whatever their personal sweet spot for learning may be. 

    Today’s learners expect to engage on their own terms – and the universities that do not adapt risk falling behind. 

    Walk onto almost any campus today and you’ll meet an eclectic mix of learners: international students juggling multiple time zones, those studying around work or family commitments, neurodivergent learners who thrive with asynchronous participation, and mature learners returning after long professional careers. All of them, probably looking at their phones.

    Learning needs and expectations have rapidly outpaced many traditional institutional models, and they will continue to evolve just as quickly as AI reshapes our world.

    Yet, teaching and assessment often still assume a ‘standard student’ – someone who lives nearby, has no dependants, thrives in three hour seminars, loves group work, and apparently doesn’t need sleep. That student certainly exists – but it doesn’t apply to every student, and they are not even the norm anymore. The new classrooms are multigenerational and, like it or not, include learners who will use AI as a tutor, a translator, an assistant, or to whisper the correct answers to them.

    Flexibility matters as much as program quality

    Flexibility is now just as important to students as program quality. Students aren’t just looking for online resources, they want learning experiences that bend around the complexities of their lives and unlock value for their future employment. 

    The rise of hybrid and remote work has played a part. Today’s students – many of whom are working alongside their studies – are already accustomed to flexibility, asynchronous communication and digital collaboration. It’s no surprise they expect the same from their learning environments. 

    Meeting learners where they are 

    Flexibility does not mean universities must add more tools or redesign their entire curricula overnight. Instead, it means making intentional choices that give every learner meaningful ways to participate.

    This can include: 

    Multiple modes of engagement

    A student who is quiet in seminars might contribute confidently in written discussions. Another might absorb information better through video than text. Some need transcripts, captions, or additional time. All are legitimate learning preferences that institutions should plan for. 

    Assessment choice 

    Offering varied and new assessment formats broadens the ways students can demonstrate their learning, whether it’s through a written essay, a recorded presentation, a reflective piece, or another method. 

    Consistent and modern digital spaces 

    A well organised virtual learning environment should support students, not turn them into detectives hunting for course materials. When resources are always accessible, connected with their favourite apps and easy to find, students can focus their energy on learning rather than navigating platforms. 

    Accessibility from the outset 

    Designing with accessibility in mind benefits all learners and reduces barriers. It also spares lecturers from having to re-engineer materials when a student requests accommodations. 

    Technology won’t solve everything, but it can reduce friction   

    Debates about technology in higher education are familiar: concerns about pace, complexity, distraction or cost. But technology is not the goal itself. The goal is to remove the barriers that prevent students from engaging fully. 

    Effective and data-driven digital environments help educators see who is engaging, who may be struggling, and who might need adjustments or support. They offer students personalised pathways through their learning and allow institutions to respond when circumstances change, whether due to shifting demographics or external events. 

    Good teaching does not depend on technology, but scalable, equitable, mobile and flexible learning does. That’s where technology earns its keep – and maybe even saves a few lecturers from endless email chains. 

    The risk of doing nothing 

    Universities that do not adapt to the changing needs of learners are at risk of losing prospective students – and current ones – to institutions that can offer more modern, responsive, flexible experiences. 

    Students live according to real-time logic: they expect confirmation, follow-up, and immediate responses, just as they do when they shop online, but the answer cannot be to indiscriminately flood classrooms with tools; it is about personalising and adapting to the different generations that now make up the educational landscape.

    In a world of multicultural and multigenerational classrooms, engagement now means allowing students to participate in ways that genuinely suit them – not in ways dictated by inherited habits at an institution.

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  • Meet the founder… Bhakti Shah, The Outreach Collective

    Meet the founder… Bhakti Shah, The Outreach Collective

    Describe your company in three words or phrases.

    Explore, exchange, and evolve.

    What inspired you to start the company? Was there a particular moment that sparked the idea?

    After 18 years in the industry, I witnessed a fundamental disconnect across India’s education ecosystem. Schools, universities, counsellors, and solution providers were all shaping student outcomes, yet operating in complete silos — no coordination, no meaningful dialogue, no shared professional infrastructure.

    I was working as an outreach professional with a university at the time. That year alone, we managed 350 school fairs. My team was stretched impossibly thin – working weekends, holidays, special occasions – simply because schools and universities weren’t communicating. The inefficiency was staggering, but the real issue was deeper: there was no equitable space where these stakeholders could engage as equals and build collective capacity.

    TOC emerged to fill that void. What started as a WhatsApp group of 40 people grew to 1,000 within three months. That validated everything: the need wasn’t just real — it was urgent and market-wide.

    How would you describe your company’s mission in one sentence?

    TOC is a Global South–first professional development association building structured learning and networking infrastructure for the education ecosystem.

    How would your team describe you as a leader?

    I hold high standards, I am demanding, but with clear purpose. TOC operates as a not-for-profit with largely volunteer-driven efforts and one full-time employee, which requires a fundamentally different leadership approach.

    But let me be direct: volunteering isn’t a favour, and it doesn’t mean reduced accountability. When you commit to a volunteer role, hundreds of members depend on that work being executed well and on time. I expect basic professional courtesies — respecting timelines, honoring commitments, delivering what you have promised.

    My team would say I expect excellence because the work genuinely matters. Leadership here is about mutual respect, shared accountability, and recognising that impact doesn’t require a paycheck to be real.

    What’s one misconception about your sector you’d love to correct?

    That university enrolments depend entirely on schools. It’s both unfair and strategically flawed. Universities treating schools as transactional feeders is neither scalable nor sustainable as it creates unrealistic pressure on schools while preventing universities from building diversified recruitment strategies. The ecosystem needs to move beyond this outdated model and embrace multiple pathways to students. The sooner institutions recognise this, the stronger everyone becomes.

    What keeps you energised outside of work?

    Two things. First, food — I’m a khansama at heart. If I weren’t building TOC, I’d be running a kitchen. I specialize in Mughlai, Awadhi, and other regional Indian cuisines, and I am equally passionate about baking. Cooking isn’t a hobby for me; it’s how I think, create, and process.

    Second, impact stories. When diverse stakeholders connect in our spaces and say, “We would never have met if it wasn’t for TOC” — that’s everything. Those moments of connection and the transformation they catalyse keep me going. It’s proof that the infrastructure we’re building actually works.

    What advice would you give another founder entering the international education space?

    Fundamentally rethink how you approach sales. Everyone is selling something — universities, companies, consultants — but the conversation transforms when you position yourself as solving a problem rather than pushing a product. Don’t lead with what you offer; lead with the challenge you’re addressing and the measurable value you create.

    In education especially, thought leadership isn’t optional — it’s foundational infrastructure. If you’re only selling without building intellectual credibility, contributing meaningfully to discourse, and adding genuine value, you won’t build sustainable growth. Sales without substance is dead on arrival.

    What initiatives are you rolling out in the near future?

    We’re launching Initiate by TOC, a new entity structured around three verticals: research, learning, and experiences.

    Under research, we’re partnering with Ashoka University to publish Pre-College Skills Audit in India 2026 — India’s first multi-stakeholder examination of skills readiness. The study begins in January with findings released in May.

    The experiences vertical launches with the Sakura Immersion Program in partnership with Acumen – a first-of-its-kind Japan-focused professional development experience for independent counsellors across Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo.

    In learning, we’ve partnered with Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning to offer a three-month Certificate in Career and College Guidance — formal credentialing for counselling professionals.

    If you could accomplish one big thing in the next year, what would it be?

    Building scalable, credential-worthy learning infrastructure that professionalizes the entire education ecosystem — counsellors, university representatives, service providers, and school leaders. This sector has operated on informal knowledge transfer and relationship-based learning for far too long.

    If we can create formal pathways for continuous professional development – where expertise is recognised through credentials, learning is structured and ongoing, and professional growth is accessible across the Global South – we fundamentally elevate how the ecosystem functions. Better-equipped professionals create better student outcomes, stronger institutional partnerships, and more effective solution delivery.

    That’s not incremental change, that’s the multiplier effect that transforms an entire industry.

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  • 2025 in review and the road to 2026

    2025 in review and the road to 2026

    As 2025 comes to a close, Canada’s international education sector looks fundamentally different than it did just two years ago. What began in 2024 as a corrective intervention hardened this year into a sustained period of contraction, with significant consequences for institutions, communities, students, and Canada’s global positioning. A review of 2025 shows a sector reshaped by policy restraint and a narrowing of how international education is understood within national policy.

    The defining story of 2025 was scale reduction. Although IRCC set a study permit target of 437,000, approvals fell well short. Federal messaging framed this as success, pointing to roughly 60% fewer new international student arrivals between January and September 2025 compared to 2024, or about 150,000 fewer students, as evidence of responsiveness and population control.

    Stronger controls and oversight were needed, but the narrative shift has been troubling. Recognition of international students’ economic, research, and diplomatic value has largely disappeared, replaced by a framing focused on reduction. This retreat from education diplomacy carries real risks. Reputational damage is slow to undo. As the Dutch saying goes, trust arrives on foot and leaves on horseback. For a fuller account of how Canada arrived at this point, see my earlier analysis in The PIE.

    Policy changes and differentiated institutional impacts in 2025

    The most consequential shifts of 2025 extended well beyond enrolment caps. Changes to the Post Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) program, introduced alongside broader study permit restrictions in 2024, reshaped the international education landscape unevenly across institution types. Field of study eligibility requirements were fully operational throughout 2025, with additional layers added, including new language testing expectations and higher financial thresholds.

    Together, these changes altered student decision making and forced institutions to reassess recruitment strategies, program viability, and long-term planning. While some exclusions were adjusted following sector feedback, the overall policy direction remained intact.

    Research intensive universities, particularly those with strong graduate and research portfolios, were better positioned to adapt. Colleges, institutes, and smaller regional institutions faced sharper impacts, especially where programs had long functioned as pathways into regional labour markets and community-based employment.

    A recent Maclean’s article profiling Selkirk College in rural British Columbia illustrated how these policy shifts translated into real world impacts in communities of all sizes, noting that the college and its students support about one in 12 jobs in their region.

    As president Maggie Matear outlined, the institution absorbed a significant budget shortfall, experienced a sharp decline in international enrolment, and was forced to close community education centres and its Nelson arts campus while reducing staff, with 40 layoffs last year and another round noted for the next fiscal year.

    Selkirk’s experience reflects a broader pattern we have seen and will likely continue to see across Canada. Similar dynamics were tracked across multiple regions, particularly in rural and smaller urban communities where international students had become embedded in local economies.

    More broadly, this points to a much larger and unresolved conversation at institutional, provincial, and federal levels about the sustainability of postsecondary funding models and how public systems will be financed and structured going forward.

    The question is whether the country can now shift from reactive management to deliberate, integrated strategy

    The latter part of 2025 has been marked by emerging signals of stabilisation, including recent confirmations from the IRCC that for 2026, the field of study requirements tied to the PGWP are to remain stable, with no additions or removals. For institutions and students alike, this pause on this aspect of policy change is both necessary and welcome.

    After several years of volatility, a more predictable framework offers space for recalibration, more deliberate planning, and a renewed focus on quality, student outcomes, and long-term sustainability across Canada’s diverse postsecondary system.

    Strategic silence on soft power

    One of the most striking features of 2025 was not only the scale of policy change, but the absence of a broader strategic narrative to accompany it. Throughout the year, international education was rarely discussed as an asset connected to Canada’s foreign policy, trade objectives, or global influence.

    Concepts such as soft power, education diplomacy, and the long-term value of alumni networks were largely missing from federal discourse. This absence stands in clear contrast to other jurisdictions that are looking to integrate international education into economic, diplomatic, and geopolitical strategy and the current approach is a missed opportunity. This narrowing of focus occurred at a time of increasing geopolitical complexity.

    In a multipolar world, international education networks play a critical role in sustaining trade ties, advancing research partnerships, and supporting long term policy alignment. In 2025, that strategic dimension was largely sidelined.

    The December 2025 announcement of the $1.7 billion Canada Global Impact+ Research Talent Initiative offered a partial counterbalance. The investment underscored the importance of attracting top international researchers in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and clean energy. However, this emphasis on elite research talent did not translate into a broader vision for international education as a system. Undergraduate and college students, who also contribute to long term global relationships and workforce capacity, remained largely outside strategic consideration.

    Setting the stage for 2026

    One of the most consequential developments of 2025 may not fully materialise until next year. In July, the Auditor General announced a performance audit of the International Student Program (ISP), expected to be tabled in parliament in 2026. The review is anticipated to examine study permit caps, pathways to permanent residence, educational quality, asylum claims, and program integrity. If the audit focuses only on failures and past excesses, it will miss a critical opportunity. A meaningful review must also examine the broader performance of Canada’s immigration system as a whole.

    Throughout 2025, concerns about service standards, processing timelines, communication gaps, and operational responsiveness were raised consistently across the sector. These issues featured prominently in parliamentary committee hearings, sector consultations, and public testimony throughout the fall. What emerged from those discussions was not a call to return to unchecked growth, but a clear demand for a more functional, predictable, and transparent system.

    Institutions, employers, and students emphasised the need for clearly articulated service standards, consistent and timely decision making, improved communication when policies shift, and stronger accountability for implementation. Repeated mid cycle adjustments, coupled with opaque operational guidance, created uncertainty that undermined confidence even where policy objectives were broadly understood.

    Importantly, the CIMM hearings also surfaced constructive proposals. These included better data sharing with provinces and institutions, greater regional differentiation rather than uniform national measures, increased investment in frontline processing capacity, and clearer feedback loops between policy design and operational realities. Together, these suggestions point to the need for modernisation not only in policy direction, but in execution.

    As Canada moves into 2026, the question is whether the country can now shift from reactive management to deliberate, integrated strategy. That shift must include a more functional and responsive immigration system, clearer alignment across education, labour market, and foreign policy goals, and renewed recognition of international education as a strategic asset.

    International education remains one of Canada’s most powerful tools for global engagement, economic resilience, and diplomatic influence. Whether that potential is rebuilt through thoughtful recalibration or allowed to erode through continued fragmentation will define the next chapter for the sector and for Canada’s place in the world.

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  • Ken LaOrden, Quallege – The PIE News

    Ken LaOrden, Quallege – The PIE News

    Describe yourself in three words or phrases.

    Visionary, charismatic & innovative 

    What do you like most about your job?

    The people and the potential. I love the opportunity to build genuine relationships on a daily basis – with my team, our partners, and the students – that are all grounded in trust and integrity. Let’s have some fun while we create win-win solutions that drive positive change in global education.

    Describe a project or initiative you’re currently working on that excites you.

    At Quallege, beyond recruiting students to the US, we’re now assisting several top US universities in exploring transnational expansion opportunities. Helping them navigate the complex options for launching a branch campus abroad is an exciting way to think about extending a university’s brand and impact globally.

    What’s a piece of work you’re proud of – and what did it teach you?

    I’m incredibly proud that we launched Quallege, a company focused on connecting high-quality international students with top US universities, last February. And, even in the midst of a highly fluid geopolitical environment, we’ve already secured great university partners like Syracuse University, Pepperdine University, Bentley University and The Catholic University of America. While it somewhat felt like starting a bank during the Great Depression, I am a firm believer that quality always resonates. When universities are struggling with declining enrolment and rising discount rates and continue to seek ways to diversify their student bodies, our focus on connecting high-quality students with top universities is exactly the solution the market needs.

    What’s a small daily habit that helps you in your work?

    Biking. I ride almost every day, usually around 135 miles a week. I prefer gravel biking because the trails clear my head and give me the quiet space I need to formulate my best strategic ideas.

    What’s one change you’d like to see in your sector over the next few years?

    I’d like to see us finally figure out how to leverage the best of online education, both to create more affordable pathways and significantly reduce the overall program costs for international students.

    What idea, book, podcast or conversation has stayed with you recently?

    Don’t be afraid to get out into the field – whether that’s with university partners, channel partners, or students – because there is no better place to learn. And always remember: ask a lot of questions.

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  • A reflection and a grateful tribute to our field

    A reflection and a grateful tribute to our field

    My last name, Suominen, could translate to Finland. Years ago, while registering for the APAIE conference, I decided to internationalise it. Harry Finland was born. It was practical, memorable, and a little playful.

    Now, at the end of this year, Harry Finland will be no more.

    International education has been my way of living and understanding the world as it could be. It is one of the greatest collective stories of our time: how a single student crossing a border can transform an entire family’s future. How the world rarely changes in political summits, but changes every time young people from different countries become friends.

    After 20 years in this field, I am making one of the biggest shifts of my life and stepping away from the operational role that has shaped almost half of it. I want to write this to you, the PIE community, because this is not just a story about me. It is a story about us.

    From a bulletin board in Finland to a life in Asia

    In 2005, I had completed all my study credits and was preparing to graduate from my alma mater in Finland when I came across a bulletin board ad about studying in Shanghai as a freemover. I postponed my graduation by six months and travelled to Asia for the first time in my life.

    I didn’t know how deeply I would be bitten by the ‘Asian Fly’ – or how that decision would open the door to everything that later became a startup, a lifestyle, or simply my life. I didn’t know it would lead to already 17,000 life-changing student experiences from 130 countries. I didn’t know I would meet my Finnish wife, Susanne, under the Thailand sun. I didn’t know our two creations, Asia Exchange and Edunation, would one day find a home at Keystone Education Group.

    But I did have a quiet intuition that would later become our motto: the further you go, the more you grow.

    What makes this community extraordinary

    If there is one message I hope remains from my story, it is this: I never did anything alone. Asia Exchange was built with my high-school friend, Tuomas Kauppinen. Edunation was built with Tuomas and Susanne.

    And in 2024 Keystone became a home where our vision can expand and our impact deepen. None of this would be possible without the strength of our teams: people who work with heart, and who believe in the mission.

    This field is full of people who continue to care. And that is not a given in a world driven by efficiency, data points, and deadlines.

    But you, my dear colleagues:
    • listen to the student who has no one else
    • build programs whose impact is measured in decades, not quarters
    • believe in collaboration when division often feels more likely
    • work relentlessly so young people can realise their once-in-a-lifetime opportunities

    The work you do transforms individuals, institutions, countries, and entire societies.

    Five lessons learned from a life spent enabling study abroad

    As I stand between an ending and a beginning, I can summarize my journey in five reflections that explain why everyone should study abroad:

    1. Understanding the world and other people: studying abroad dismantles simplistic thinking. It teaches how to live alongside different values, beliefs, and ways of life. It builds empathy and cultural intelligence. These skills are essential for leadership and for preventing conflicts. I truly believe studying abroad can even prevent wars from happening. Imagine if today’s leaders of the major nations had grown up with these skills…
    2. Independence and resilience: Living and studying in a foreign country forces individuals to take responsibility for themselves. Navigating bureaucracy, language barriers, and uncertainty develops resilience, problem-solving skills, and confidence.
    3. Global competence and employability: students develop abilities that cannot be gained at home alone: working in multicultural teams, adapting quickly, communicating across cultures, and thinking globally.
    4. Lifelong networks: Studying abroad creates exceptionally strong human connections. The relationships built in transformative moments become lifelong friendships, collaborations, and opportunities.
    5. A deeper sense of identity: stepping outside one’s home culture helps individuals understand who they are and what they value. Studying abroad strengthens roots; it does not weaken them.

    In short, studying abroad may be the most meaningful experience a student ever has. You and your colleagues are the enablers of this.

    My mission in this field was always about building and enabling impact. Now it is time to step aside and allow a new chapter of my life to unfold. What it will be, I do not yet know. Hopefully something meaningful.

    Thank you.

    To the PIE community, colleagues, partners, students, and friends: thank you.
    You have turned this field into a movement that keeps growing, even as the world becomes more complex.

    The mission continues every time a student boards a plane, makes a friend abroad, or discovers a new version of themselves. It continues in the organisations we built, and especially in the people who are behind those organisations.

    Borders may divide countries, but they never stand a chance against people who dare to cross them.

    Thank you for letting me be part of this. Thank you for making this the most meaningful chapter of my life. Keep going. The world needs you.

    Staying curious,

    Harri Suominen
    Co-founder, Asia Exchange and Edunation (Keystone companies)
    From Finland, based in Malaysia

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  • a different vision of TNE

    a different vision of TNE

    Across the UK, universities are scrambling to expand their transnational education (TNE) footprints. In the wake of declining international student enrolments at home and a domestic funding model under acute strain, offshore delivery has re-emerged as a strategic hedge.

    New projects are announced almost weekly, typically centred on business, computing, and other classroom-based disciplines with low capital requirements and modest regulatory complexity. Much of this expansion is pragmatic, responsive, and seen as necessary by its proponents.

    But the speed and shape of this growth obscures an uncomfortable truth: the UK has mainly defaulted to a narrow model of TNE, one optimised for rapid expansion rather than academic depth, high stakes provision or long-term national capacity building. As a result, the sector’s diversification strategies increasingly look alike – thinly spread, opportunistic, and largely confined to low-risk subject areas.

    A recent visit to Bahrain has reminded me that international higher education can look very different. Just over an hour’s flight from London, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has developed a form of TNE that stands in almost complete contrast to the dominant UK: high investment, clinically intensive, deeply embedded in national systems, and aligned to strategic workforce needs.

    RCSI Bahrain opened in 2004 and is now a fully-fledged medical university with purpose-built clinical and educational facilities, deep partnerships across Bahrain’s health system, and a student and graduate community that plays a meaningful role in the country’s healthcare workforce. This is not a flying-faculty project, not a joint diploma model, and not an exercise in offshore classroom leasing. It is an institution.

    A global footprint with real depth

    What struck me is how long RCSI has been doing this, and how quietly. While most UK universities are only now building or acquiring capacity for offshore growth, RCSI has been operating overseas for nearly three decades. Its Malaysia campus, originally Penang Medical College, dates back to 1996. Postgraduate leadership and healthcare management education has been delivered in Dubai since 2005.

    More recently, new activity has emerged in Saudi Arabia. These ventures are not opportunistic or defensive responses to market turbulence; they form part of a long-term strategy grounded in health-system needs and in a clear institutional mission.

    Importantly, all of this activity sits within the high-stakes world of medical and clinical education, probably the most heavily regulated and risk-sensitive domain in the entire global HE landscape. Where many institutions are pursuing TNE in the subjects that are cheapest to deliver and fastest to scale, RCSI operates in the areas that are most demanding to deliver offshore. That difference matters.

    An unexpectedly diverse and high-calibre student body

    But the real revelation in Bahrain was the students. The academic calibre is extremely high, and the student body is more diverse than I had assumed. The majority come from Bahrain and the wider Gulf region, with many drawn by the RCSI brand, its teaching hospitals, and its international pathways. What surprised me is that almost 10% of the cohort is North American.

    For students from the United States and Canada, choosing to study medicine in Bahrain is a bold step. Yet the rationale is compelling: a prestigious medical qualification that is portable, internationally recognised, and delivered to global standards but without the enormous financial and time of the traditional US route into medicine.

    The real revelation in Bahrain was the students. The academic calibre is extremely high, and the student body is more diverse than I had assumed

    In North America, students must complete a four-year bachelor’s degree before being eligible to enter medical school. This adds both significant direct cost and four additional years of living expenses and lost earning potential. Only then do they begin a four-year MD program, with total medical-school tuition routinely exceeding US $300,000 – and that’s before accommodation, insurance or clinical fees.

    RCSI Bahrain, by contrast, follows the Irish and British model of direct entry from high school, enabling students to start medical training immediately and progress through a continuous five- or six-year program. This eliminates the cost of a prior undergraduate degree and reduces opportunity cost by allowing students to enter clinical practice years earlier.

    The result is a stark difference in the total cost of becoming a doctor. RCSI Bahrain offers a rigorous medical program with strong clinical exposure, international accreditation pathways and a clear route back into North American licensing systems at a significantly lower overall cost. For many families, it represents a rational and high-value alternative to the US model, not a compromise.

    The TNE contrast: scale vs substance

    Set against this, the current UK TNE boom looks very different. Offshore campuses and partnerships are proliferating rapidly, but they overwhelmingly target business and management programs – disciplines with low regulatory barriers, minimal specialised infrastructure needs, and high domestic and international demand.

    There is nothing inherently wrong with this; diversification is essential, and partnering overseas can strengthen institutional resilience and relevance. But it does highlight a structural truth: most TNE models are designed for scale, not depth. They minimise risk by limiting investment, and they expand access by lowering the cost base.

    By contrast, RCSI Bahrain shows what international engagement can look like when it is mission-driven, academically demanding, and built over decades. It demonstrates that global footprints do not need to be thin, transactional, or opportunistic. They can be embedded, trusted, and strategically aligned with national health-workforce needs.

    A reminder for the sector

    RCSI Bahrain is not a model that every university can or should replicate. Offshore medical education requires capital, regulatory alignment, institutional patience and mission clarity. But it is a powerful counterexample at a moment when the UK is thinking urgently, and sometimes narrowly, about what TNE is for.

    The sector conversation about TNE often focuses on volume, compliance, and partnership mechanics

    If our offshore activity is driven primarily by income diversification and speed to market, we risk building global footprints that are wide but shallow. The sector conversation about TNE often focuses on volume, compliance, and partnership mechanics. What is missing is a discussion about purpose, discipline mix, national contribution, and the kinds of international engagement that strengthen institutional identity rather than dilute it.

    RCSI Bahrain shows that TNE can be academically demanding, strategically aligned and socially impactful. It demonstrates that an overseas campus can contribute to national capacity building, not just institutional revenue; that clinical programs can be delivered to global standards offshore; and that international students, including those from North America, will travel for quality and value.

    As the UK sector rethinks its international strategies, we would do well to look beyond the models that are easiest to scale, and towards those, like RCSI’s, that are deepest, most durable, and most aligned to mission.

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  • Phil Honeywood, IEAA

    Phil Honeywood, IEAA

    Describe yourself in three words or phrases.
    Optimistic global citizen.

    What do you like most about your job?
    My job represents my life journey: teenage exchange student in Japan, government minister for multicultural affairs and higher education, and then running two international education colleges. The journey’s culmination being IEAA CEO!

    Describe a project or initiative you’re currently working on that excites you.
    As convenor of our National Council for International Education, advocating and negotiating with government to maximise exemptions (for all providers) from the recently imposed enrolment limits (caps) policy.

    What’s a piece of work you’re proud of – and what did it teach you?
    Travelling to India with our federal education minister, I pointed out to him that we could not promise that students who commence their Australian degree in our offshore campuses might then be guaranteed the opportunity to complete their course in Australia because of his government’s planned enrolment limits policy (caps) policy.

    This conversation directly led to successful negotiations to permit TNE students to, for the most part, not be counted in an education providers’ annual enrolment limit if they come to Australia to complete their studies. This experience taught me to keep travelling with relevant ministers whenever possible!

    What’s a small daily habit that helps you in your work?
    A triple shot flat white coffee (Melbourne being the coffee capital of the world) on my way to the office!

    What’s one change you’d like to see in your sector over the next few years?
    We need a concerted and coordinated public relations campaign that effectively educates the wider community on the benefits that world class international education delivers.

    What idea, book, podcast or conversation has stayed with you recently?
    My recent meeting in Beijing with China’s minister of education, Huai Jinpeng, reminded me that education is the most wonderful topic that builds bridges across cultures and breaks down misconceptions. 

    What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone starting out in this field?
    Be willing to put your hand up for new job challenges as often as possible in our dynamic sector. However, if you are going to be a marketing and recruitment “road warrior” be kind to yourself and prioritise family as much as possible!

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  • Why international education must be central to the Square Mile’s success

    Why international education must be central to the Square Mile’s success

    Earlier this month, the City of London staged one of its most time-honoured traditions: the annual parade marking the inauguration of its new civic leader. But this year’s event was historic for more than its pageantry.

    For the first time in 697 years, the Lord Mayor’s Show became the Lady Mayor’s Show, as Dame Susan Langley DBE took office under a title that signals both continuity and change.

    The Lady Mayor’s pledge to “un-square the Square Mile” – to make the City more open, inclusive and innovative – could also not be more timely. If she is serious about modernising the mayoralty, then championing international education must be at the heart of her agenda.

    Education as trade and investment

    The City of London is not just a major global financial centre; it is a thoroughly international student city. As well as being home to the large multi-faculty institution of City St George’s, University of London, the City also boasts the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has historic links to several prestigious further and higher education providers across the capital.

    The overseas students that these institutions collectively attract feed a talent pipeline underpinning every sector of the City’s economy. According to research by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), just one year’s cohort of international students in the Cities of London and Westminster brings in £352 million of net benefits annually, equating to £2,940 per resident.

    London’s businesses understand this importance. New research from London Higher shows 90% of firms in the capital say global graduates are essential for filling skills gaps and driving innovation, and more than half admit they would consider relocating if access to this talent were curtailed.

    From financial services to tech companies and the creative industries, London’s employers value the language skills, cultural awareness and global networks that international graduates provide. These are the assets that give the Square Mile its competitive edge in a fiercely global marketplace.

    Storm clouds ahead

    However, these assets are under threat. Headwinds facing UK higher education are stiffening: financial pressures, rising operating costs and ongoing policy uncertainty around visas and an international fee levy are all working to lessen London’s overseas appeal. Universities are continually being asked to do more with less, while negative rhetoric around immigration risks deterring the very global talent that the City needs to thrive.

    Universities are continually being asked to do more with less, while negative rhetoric around immigration risks deterring the very global talent that the City needs to thrive

    Should the City of London’s higher education institutions start losing ground in the international education export market then the ripple effects will be felt far beyond their campuses – from student housing markets, restaurants and local coffee shops to the big city businesses that rely on a steady flow of skilled graduates with the nous to operate in a globally connected world.

    Convening power

    This is where the Lady Mayor’s convening power matters. Her role is not merely ceremonial. As the elected head of the City of London Corporation, she is a global ambassador for the UK’s financial and professional services sector, tasked with driving growth and innovation through diplomacy and engagement.

    In an era when rival financial centres such as New York, Singapore and Dubai are doubling down on talent attraction, London cannot afford to be complacent. A modern mayoralty should see universities and colleges as strategic assets in the City’s success, not peripheral players around its financial prowess. Opening the doors of Mansion House for events that champion education as a cornerstone of competitiveness would send a powerful signal of support.

    Advocacy for higher education is not a fringe issue. It is ultimately about future-proofing the City for the challenges that lie ahead. Higher education fuels innovation, entrepreneurship and cultural capital – all the qualities that the City prizes in its pursuit of growth and prosperity. Alumni of London’s institutions go on to become global decision-makers in a variety of sectors and industries and carry with them an affinity for the City that often translates into investment and influence later down the line.

    A new narrative for growth

    At a time when the City’s economy is crying out for high-level skills – and the UK government is doubling down on local responsiveness through a civic policy lens – the Square Mile has a golden opportunity to lead by example under its new Lady Mayor: forging partnerships between business and education, supporting pathways into high-demand sectors and amplifying the City of London’s message as a welcoming destination for learners and workers from all backgrounds – particularly women inspired by their new figurehead.

    The Lady Mayor has said herself that, “The City is not about walls to keep people out, but about welcoming people in.” That ethos should extend to students as much as to investors because, if we fail to keep London open to global talent, we risk diminishing the City’s universities and weakening the very foundations of the Square Mile’s success.

    The Lady Mayor’s tenure in Mansion House offers a chance for the City to reset its narrative and show that international education is a strategic lever for the City’s growth. By championing international students and forging stronger ties between academia and industry, the City can secure its place as the world’s most connected financial hub – thriving on openness, talent and ideas.

    If the City of London wants to remain the beating heart of global commerce, then it must also be the beating heart of global learning.

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  • conflict, peace and international education 

    conflict, peace and international education 

    It’s that time of year again. On streets and in shops across the UK this, someone will have been be selling poppies. And today, on Remembrance Sunday, at War Memorials from tiny villages to Whitehall, people will gather for a period of silence. A moment to reflect, to remember. 

    For me personally, there is a family connection. My paternal great-grandfather was killed in WWI, leaving four young children. His name is on the vast Tyne Cot memorial in Belgium, one of 35,000 of the missing who died in the Ypres Salient after August 16, 1917, and have no known grave.

    But I also think of another memorial, the one I gathered around for the years I worked at Sheffield University. This is the moving tribute to the students and staff who lost their lives in two World Wars. 

    This carved stone monument at the University’s core was once located in the original library, and it contains arguably the most sacred and painful book in its collection – a Book of Remembrance.

    Sheffield University had its own battalion in WWI and it was almost completely destroyed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Some 512 young men lost their lives in a single day. I was once given permission to lift off the glass cover and open the book. It was shocking, each page crammed full of so many hundreds of names. 

    For many of those students, hopefully joining up and travelling to France was the first time they had been overseas, just as it was for my great-grandfather. He left his mining village on the unluckiest of journeys – first to Gallipoli where he was gassed, and then to France where he died in the mud. 

    Today, students have a very different opportunity for travel, for connection. A century after my great-grandfather died, I have travelled the world in peacetime thanks to international education. I’ve been to Delhi and seen the vast war memorial at India Gate with its eternal flame and walls of other names – Hindu, Sikh, Muslim. I have friends from China whose relatives long ago would have dug the trenches as part of as part of the 140,000 strong Chinese Labour Corps for the British and French armies.

    Remembrance Day isn’t a British only tradition – a whole world was drawn into those terrible events. 

    What international students teach us now 

    And I have international students friends who don’t need a poppy to remind them to remember because they come from countries with current experience of conflict. 

    Who are they? A refugee scholar from Syria working on environmental sustainability. A Gaza scholar who rejects the language of resilience and uses her research to build deep understanding. A friend in Singapore who has family in Russia and Ukraine. And the Afghan scholars who have become not only friends but family, those who teach us all that the peace to sit with your loved ones and share a meal is never to be taken for granted. That for young girls and women to access education, university, careers and have choices is a right hard won that must be cherished. Each of them is also my teacher. 

    As the world changes, nationalism grows and spheres of influence are fortified by economic and literal weapons, those who understand one another are more important than ever

    And this is also why I believe in international education. Peace takes understanding. It takes work. As the world changes, nationalism grows and spheres of influence are fortified by economic and literal weapons, those who understand one another are more important than ever. 

    It is a tragedy that language courses close because, as John le Carré said, learning a language is an act of friendship. But international education in all its forms is also what my NISAU friends call a ‘living bridge’.

    Whether it happens through traditional programmes of overseas study, short courses, institutional partnerships, TNE or internationalisation at home, global education offers a precious opportunity to meet in peace. To gain a perspective not only on what others think and how they see the world, but about yourself. 

    Why it matters that #WeAreInternational 

    When years ago we founded a campaign called #WeAreInternational , it was a statement not about a structure of higher education but about who we are and want to be. It doesn’t mean abandoning your identity, it means opening it up to possibility. That is in itself an education. 

    John Donne famously wrote that no man is an island but that we are deeply connected to one another, all of us connected to the continent. And when others are harmed, we are all diminished. That the bell that tolls for any life is ringing for humanity too. 

    On Remembrance Sunday this year, as we are urged never to forget, there is also an implicit call to action – not to wage war but to build peace. How do we do that? Nobody is pretending it’s easy, but I think the education we are privileged to support has a very human part to play. 

    I think of the words of my Afghan scholar friend Naimat speaking at City St George’s University of London to students earlier this week. As the minute’s silence begins on today, I will think of my great-grandfather Robert, the lost students of Sheffield University, and the words of this international student who knows of what he speaks. 

    To achieve peace at all times, we must do three things:

    1. Acknowledge the past: we must study and accept the hard lessons, the disconnected dots, and the mistakes of history.
    2. Act in the present: we must stand up against injustice wherever it occurs, recognising that a violation of human rights in one corner of the world eventually casts a shadow over all of us.
    3. Prioritise the future: we must commit to sustained dialogue – not just talk, but a genuine exchange of ideas where all voices, especially the most marginalised, are heard and valued.

    Dialogue, he says, is the non-violent tool we possess to sustain peace. It is how we convert fear into understanding, and resentment into cooperation. And international education offers a precious and powerful opportunity for both. 

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