Aref Al Farra explains why Jordan should improve the experience of international students in its universities, and the challenges that lie ahead.
Educational tourism, which refers to the phenomenon of foreign students coming to study at a country's universities, is a niche form of tourism that should be capitalized on as one of the strategic development choices for Jordan. When compared to medical and traditional tourism, educational tourism is the highest source of revenue for Jordan per tourist and is the least vulnerable to political instability (see Table 1). This is possibly due to the fact that the "tourist" (in this case the international student) spends at least eight to nine months in the country.
Educational tourism has numerous benefits. In addition to increased diversity in the university campus, the tuition fees paid by international students are usually higher than those paid by local students, which provide a significant source of foreign exchange and sometimes the much-needed assistance to supplement the budgets of public universities beyond insufficient - and often limited - governmental budgetary support. This form of tourism also supports traditional tourism since many international students receive friends and family during the year. In the long run, if they have a positive experience, international students effectively become ambassadors of the host country after graduation.
Currently, over 20,000 international students study in Jordanian universities, up from about 9,000 a decade ago. This translates into a very healthy 9% annual growth rate. In Jordan, international students directly contributed around $250 million in 2004 (in tuition and living expenses), or more than 2% of our GDP. Annual educational tourist spending is around $12,500. Given Jordan's relatively low per capita income, an international student thus supports five to six Jordanians, or around one Jordanian family (see Graph 2).
Historically, most of the international students that chose Jordan for their higher education came from the Arab Gulf. They are attracted to Jordanian universities due to their good reputation, relatively inexpensive tuition, bilingual curriculum, and the generally safe Jordanian political and social climate. Enrollment in undergraduate programs has been on the rise (from 75% of total international enrollments a decade ago to around 90% last year). This suggests that Jordan's graduate programs have yet to effectively compete with other international universities offering graduate programs (see Graph 1).
When compared to other countries, Jordan fares well. The ratio of international students to total population is highest for Australia and the UAE. In Jordan, the ratio is approximately one out of every 270, coming in third place in the region after the UAE and Lebanon (see Graph 2).
A need, not a luxury
Some public universities run annual deficits that cost the government, and ultimately the taxpayer, millions of dinars, and negatively affect the quality of education (as evidenced by increasing student-to-professor ratios, poor laboratory facilities, and a host of other indicators).
Various solutions have been introduced to boost university income. One of the solutions currently implemented is the muwazi, or parallel program. The program allows underperforming students and students without the tawjihi but with a foreign high school diploma, who would not normally be admitted competitively to public universities, to enroll by paying higher tuition fees. While this program cannot counter the growing financial deficits of these universities, educational tourism can.
In universities around the world, international student fees are significantly higher than those paid by national students. This enables universities to invest in marketing and promotion, and improve quality of education. In addition, educational tourism adds diversity to the local campus community and creates networking opportunities that potentially translate into business opportunities. Several top Ivy League American universities boast international student ratios in excess of 40% of the total number of students. In Jordan, the overall ratio is less than 10%.
Threats to educational tourism
Within the Jordan Vision 2020 initiative, the Young Entrepreneurs Association (YEA) championed an effort to survey approximately 1,000 international students in Jordan. The survey attempted to understand why those students chose to study in Jordan, and to assess their evaluation of the quality of university education, health services, transportation services, visa procedures, and other issues (see Graph 3 for a sample research question result). The findings of the strategy will be officially launched in a document during the upcoming Culmination Ceremony of Jordan Vision 2020 Phase II. The document will include a detailed action plan for different ministries and public and private universities, as well as insights into profitable investment opportunities for the private sector. One of the goals of the exercise was to come up with a strategy to increase the number of international students by 11% annually, to 100,000 by the year 2020 - a difficult task considering the threats ahead.
While Jordanian universities hold great promise, several new universities are sprouting in the region. These universities hold the danger of reducing Jordan's competitiveness in attracting international students as well as draining away our pool of competent Jordanian university faculty and staff. The UAE, which is already a main competitor, boasts two American universities in Sharjah and Dubai, an Australian university in Dubai, as well as at least three partnerships with Australian universities. Lebanon has over 40 public and private universities that compete in attracting international students from the region and abroad. Qatar and Egypt are also emerging competitors. Moreover, the Jordanian government's budgetary support to public universities is limited.
Lately, the government has expressed its intention to change the type of support extended to public universities; instead of direct support, it will primarily be supporting financially unable Jordanian students. Finally, the nature of knowledge acquisition is rapidly changing. Students no longer need to travel in order to get an education. Fourteen percent of the international students surveyed by the YEA said that they had considered distance learning and e-learning alternatives before coming to Jordan. With the advances of Internet accessibility in the last few decades, this type of learning is starting to feed off on traditional instruction in attracting students. Unless Jordanian universities offer such solutions, their competitiveness may be reduced.
The survey results also revealed other challenges to educational tourism. For example, 69% of students who have tried health insurance were not happy with the service they were provided. Forty-one percent of the international students using public transportation thought that "it could definitely be improved." These results should encourage further investments in the development of these sectors. Some of the results were promising, with 67% of those surveyed believing that their education in Jordan would improve their chances of finding a job, and only 20% of the students surveyed said that they would not recommend their university to friends and family back home. At the end of the day, educational tourism is a service. And as experts are quick to argue, a positive experience brings in three or four subsequent referrals from friends and relatives, while a negative experience foregoes ten. If Jordan is to succeed in attracting five times what it currently attracts in educational tourism by 2020, the provision of quality services throughout the whole value chain is absolutely important. This starts from the moment the international student considers coming to a certain university until the time they leave.
© Jordan Business Monthly 2006
