Tag: Justin Cooke

Upskilling the international graduate talent market for a post-pandemic future

“Overseas talent has always been well-primed to help fill skills gaps in high-growth sectors like digital and technology”

Earlier this month, the UK government released further details on its new points-based immigration system, part of which hopes to provide international students the opportunity to live and work in the UK for a further two to three years after they graduate, writes Justin Cooke, chief content and partnerships officer at FutureLearn.

Similarly, in Australia, the government has announced it will recommence granting student visas among other measures to help support international student’s career pathways in the country. 

Unlocking the potential in highly skilled international student talent has become a greater priority for both industry and government over the years, more urgently so since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Throughout the pandemic, larger businesses especially have continued relying on the international graduate market according to recent insights, demonstrating the huge value of this talent pool.

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Is COVID-19 a moment for online education to take the lead?

“Beyond helping the students and the industry, edtech can also help with the impact of the coronavirus more generally”

As the international education sector grapples with the impact COVID-19 is having on student mobility, Chief Content & Partnership Officer at FutureLearn, Justin Cooke, argues that the technology is available for the education sector to lead the way in combating the coronavirus, both the spread of the virus itself and its impact on learning and economies.

In the US, Chinese students make up over one third of all international students. In the UK, one-third of all non-EU students at British campuses are now from China. And in Australia, Chinese students make up 10 per cent of all students. It is clear that Chinese students represent a significant percentage of international cohorts so it’s no surprise that the education sector, as well as those students, are being impacted by the coronavirus. But the question is what are we going to do about it?

With the coronavirus and the related travel bans, many Chinese students can’t enter the countries they are supposed to be studying in. This impacts their studies, of course, but also the economies of those countries.

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