International Education Strategy
In the Programme for Government 2021-22, the Scottish Government committed to produce a new strategy to promote international education, increase international student numbers, and maintain links with the EU—
“We will also develop a Scottish Education Exchange Programme to support the international mobility of staff and learners, and work to re‑secure Scotland’s access to the Erasmus + Programme.”https://www.gov.scot/publications/fairer-greener-scotland-programme-government-2021-22/documents/
In their written submissions Universities Scotlandhttps://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-6-constitution-europe-external-affairs-and-culture-committee/correspondence/2022/universities-scotland-written-submission-on-sg-international-work and British Council Scotlandhttps://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-6-constitution-europe-external-affairs-and-culture-committee/correspondence/2021/submission-from-the-british-council-scotland supported this new strategy, the former describing it as—
“…an important opportunity to bring together and connect a number of strands of international issues for the sector, some that sit outwith the higher education portfolio, such as transnational education (TNE) and foreign direct investment.”https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-6-constitution-europe-external-affairs-and-culture-committee/correspondence/2022/universities-scotland-written-submission-on-sg-international-work
They added that the strategy would need to consider not only how to attract foreign students but also how to retain talent in Scotland; and highlighted the need for a correlation between the different portfolios so that education feeds into all aspects of the government’s work in a cohesive way.https://www.parliament.scot/api/sitecore/CustomMedia/OfficialReport?