About us

What we do

The UK Higher Education sector has a wide-ranging and growing engagement with people, institutions and organisations around the world.  This engagement is vital for academic, social, cultural, political and economic sustainability and for the constant renewal of the higher education sector in the UK. 

The UK remains the second most popular destination for international students and UK universities have established partnerships and collaborations around the world.  Yet an increasing number of countries are developing international dimensions to their higher education systems, some - such as India and China as well as the traditional suppliers such as the USA and Australia - on a massive scale.

The UK HE International Unit  coordinates, promotes and undertakes activities designed to support UK universities in a globally competitive world.

How we do it

To succeed in a competitive and global market place, UK universities require access to the latest data and foresight analysis. The International Unit's goal is to ensure that UK universities have such access. This will help individual universities to be efficient and effective in the ways that they respond to, and take advantage of, the opportunities offered by internationalisation.

The Unit's core functions complement existing sector activity without duplicating or competing with it. They are:

• Assembling timely and high quality data and information about international developments and movements in higher education, and adding value to them through research and analysis designed to develop foresight about international trends and their potential impact on UK;
• Making the results of this work readily available to UK universities and providing a meeting point for the sharing of information about globalisation, and the discussion of issues that arise;
• Helping to ensure that there is joined-up thinking and appropriate co-ordination between the range of UK organisations involved in international activity related to higher education, thereby increasing its impact and helping to advance the reputation of UK higher education in overseas countries.

 

Registered Office:
Universities UK, Woburn House, 20 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HQ
Switchboard tel +44 (0)20 7419 4111 Fax +44 (0)20 7388 5766,
Registered Company No. 2517018 Registered Charity No. 1001127