Britain says its education institutions could do better

Britain will try to make more money from its highly respected learning sector, according to the nation's education secretary.

Damian Hinds said during this week's Education World Forum in London that the United Kingdom government will launch both diplomatic and commercial initiatives to attract more foreign students. It will also encourage schools and universities to set up additional overseas branches, and support UK companies working in the educational technology sector.

Hinds told delegates many countries want to learn from Britain's educational sector.

"Every year, my department receives in the region of 100 visits from overseas governments and organizations," he said. Additional foreign students at British schools, colleges, and universities would generate welcome income at a time of uncertainty around the UK's pending exit from the European Union.

"There is a real value placed on working with British institutions — schools and universities," he told the Financial Times, while noting Brexit "should make us even more open and outward looking".

Britain's education exports were worth 19 billion pounds ($24.6 billion) in 2015, which was 22 percent up on the 2010 total. And the nation is now the world's fourth-largest "edtech" market, which is made up of companies that produce software used by teachers and students. The United States is the segment's leader, followed by India and China.

But despite the strengths of the UK's education sector, 5 percent fewer foreign students studied in the UK during 2018 than during 2017, a fact that was blamed on Brexit uncertainties, and increased competition from Canada and Australia.

Despite the UK being the world's second most-popular study destination after the US, with more than a million international students, Hinds said it can learn from other nations.

"For example, to improve maths teaching, we turned to China," he said at the annual gathering of education and skills ministers. "Some 12,000 of our teachers have the opportunity to watch demonstration lessons by top Shanghai teachers. Or when we set about creating a more rigorous curriculum for our schools, we drew on Singapore's curriculum and textbooks."

According to ISC Research, which provides data and intelligence on the international schools market, the UK curriculum is the world's most popular and has been adopted by 3,586 international schools globally.

And the Department for International Trade says it is working with 120 UK schools that are either in the process of expanding overseas or are considering doing so.