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13. CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
13.1 FTWiSS has been a very innovative piece of policy making. Negotiated within the context of devolution in the UK, it identified a clear rationale for government intervention and pulled together the necessary mechanisms, legislative and administrative, to deliver a policy tailored to Scottish requirements within a very short time scale. This should not be underestimated and the creativity and determination required, at all levels, deserves recognition. The fact that it also strays into the constitutional boundaries of the Scotland Act and looks to address issues related with immigration, a subject not often thought about objectively, makes its success, in policy making terms, all the more commendable.
13.2 It has now been announced that the scheme will be extended across the UK, although the Scottish version will extend to HNDs. This could be looked on as a positive reflection on the scheme, in that it was deemed successful enough to be rolled-out elsewhere. However, in Scottish terms alone, it means that, to some extent, Scotland has lost a competitive advantage and may need to explore other avenues.
13.3 That is not to say that the FTWiSS model has served its function and should be abandoned. As this paper has explored, the scheme could be developed and expanded in a number of ways, many of which do not necessarily require further legislative flexibilities from the UK Government. In the spirit of seeing FTWiSS as a pilot and a policy still in its infancy, the potential to reshape and refocus the scheme so that it works even better in some areas and opens up new possibilities in others, is significant. The same creativity and effort that got it up and running should be applied once again to make this happen.
13.4 FTWiSS has managed to attract over 8,000 students to stay on in Scotland after graduation in less than 3 years. Because no target was ever placed on the number of people it aimed to attract, it is difficult to assess whether the scheme has been a success in these terms. Having a more explicit sense of what FTWiSS is for and how success will be measured remains essential.
13.5 The research has clearly shown that, at the front-end, FTWiSS has been used effectively as a way of getting people to study in Scotland. There is no way of saying for sure how many international students have come to Scotland to study because of FTWiSS - the number of non-European students increased by over 3,000 between 2005-06 and 06-07. 87 When thinking about the numbers on FTWiSS, however, at least some recognition should be given to international student in-flows in light of the research showing that academics and students alike are very open to FTWiSS.
13.6 It is around the "attraction" of international students that the FTWiSS scheme appears to have operated most effectively. Picked up and used by Scottish universities to promote their institutions and courses, clear synergies have grown out of the scheme allowing for Scotland to be communicated and thought about as a great place to study, live and work. If anything, the opportunity to maximise the FTWiSS message has yet to be fully realised and considerable scope remains to build up recognition and awareness about the scheme with target audiences in particular countries around the world.
13.7 As the case study illustrates, what was being offered was not just marketing communications using images, facts and statements about Scotland and its world class education system; FTWiSS acted as an incentive for the individual, showing them why Scotland would be a good place to go to university and what the individual would get out of coming to Scotland. This has important policy lessons over and above FTWiSS for public diplomacy and marketing overseas. When trying to engage with people and show them interesting things about Scotland, something genuinely new, innovative and different has to be on offer.
13.8 The picture of success becomes much less apparent for FTWiSS once people have come to study in Scotland, applied and got onto the scheme. The statistics are not reliable enough to make a firm conclusion about what those on FTWiSS have done with their 2 years and what happens to them afterwards. What data is available indicates that some have experienced similar experiences to other graduates who stay in Scotland to find work: that is most find work straight away, but not necessarily the kinds of job they want that match their chosen career path.
13.9 This could be seen as disappointing in so far as the research suggests that difficulty finding suitable employment has been consistently raised throughout the research in and around this subject. Moreover, by virtue of the fact that FTWiSS makes an active invitation to people to come here to live and work for 2 years, an expectation is immediately created with those applying about the kind of job market they will be looking for work in. Whether an obligation exists on the part of government to try and find these international graduates employment when no such support is on offer to domestic graduates is debatable.
13.10 What the research does indicate is that a greater concentration within FTWiSS could be focused on what happens after people get onto the scheme. The qualitative research with those coming to the end of their 2 years indicates that, while many got a lot of positives out of their experiences of living in Scotland and are grateful for that, some form of active support during the 2 years could lead to better, more consistent outcomes.
13.11 Part of this could involve an improved monitoring system, allowing for better data capture as well as tailored support services for individuals on the scheme, even if that is just to see how they are settling into life in Scotland. With a population target now set by the Scottish Government, efforts to try and encourage people to stay on, even after the 2 years of their FTWiSS is over has increased considerably.
13.12 Lastly, the opportunity to explore ways of bringing different partners together to deliver a better FTWiSS experience remains considerable. While universities in Scotland appear to have wholeheartedly embraced the FTWiSS and its potential as a way of persuading international students to study in Scotland, this dialogue could be extended to look at the outcomes for those on the scheme. One obvious connection brought out in the paper lies with the kinds of employers whose interests clearly crossover with both the universities and the students.
13.13 Overall, FTWiSS has been a very successfully policy experiment and has exceptional potential to be scaled-up. Learning the lessons from its initial 3 year phase, the scheme could be revised so that its performance is driven primarily by the outcomes of the individuals on the scheme, rather than the volume of people on the scheme and the number of overseas graduates coming to study in Scotland.
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