MSc Report: Social Impacts of Education Tourism in Oxford

This report investigates the social impacts of education tourism in Oxford, focusing on the effects of international students on the city's social, economic, and cultural landscape. The analysis begins with an introduction to the growth of the tourism industry and the increasing flow of international students. The report examines the background of educational tourism in Oxford, highlighting the presence of prestigious universities such as the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, and discusses the benefits of international education and the impact on the local community. The literature review covers the positive impacts, such as infrastructure improvement and changes in educational policies, and the development of ethnic and national consciousness through cross-cultural communication. The research approach and methodology, including data collection and analysis, are presented to support the findings. The report explores the economic and social impacts, including employment rates and the exchange of cultures. The report also references various sources to support the analysis, providing recommendations for further study. This report aims to provide a detailed overview of the multifaceted social impacts of education tourism within the city of Oxford.

SOCIAL IMPACTS IN OXFORD BASED ON EDUCATION TOURISM
M. Sc. – INTERNATIONAL HOTEL AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Submitted by : | Oxford
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................3
2. BACKGROUND (RATIONALE)..............................................................................6
3. AIM OF THE RESEARCH......................................................................................9
4. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH......................................................................9
5. LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................................10
6. RESEARCH APPROACH....................................................................................26
7. METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH......................................................................30
8. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DATA ANALYSIS..................................................36
9. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY........................36
10. REFERENCING.................................................................................................37
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Title: SOCIAL IMPACTS IN OXFORD BASED ON EDUCATION TOURISM
1. INTRODUCTION
Over the past decade, there has been significant growth of tourism industry
across the globe affecting different aspects. According to the World Tourism
Organization WTO (2017) indicates that there is an increase in tourism moving
across countries with 10%, making a global record of 1.5 billion. The report indicates
that there has been growth ranging to more than 500 million between 1990 and 2018
resulting in billion dollars of revenue. It is worth noting that the tourist destinations
are always accompanied by different social, economic, political and cultural impacts
(Kozak and Kozak 2016). Over the past century, there has been increasing flow of
students that are crossing borders into numerous countries leading to growth of
international education. Oxford is one of the identified tourists attracting destinations
thus calls the need to determine the Social Impacts in Oxford based on Education
Tourism.
There are different colleges in oxford, which include Balliol College, Exeter
College and St. John's College. Besides, Christ church college is the most
recognizable college in this region. This college has provided 13 prime ministers and
is the site of the grand stairwell in harry, potter. Many international students travel in
this region of the United Kingdom every year to gain an education. About 43% of the
total students in oxford are international that numbers to almost 10000. 20% of
undergraduates and 64% of graduate students are international. As stated by Cohen
(2016), students from over 150 countries come to oxford to gain the education, which
has developed educational tourism in this region of the UK.
There are some social impacts on educational tourism in oxford, which can
be categorized as positive. This includes investing funds for improving the facilities
and infrastructure of the region. Different accommodations suitable for international
students and educational facilities were improved to attract a large number of
students. This has benefited both local and international students. The growth of
educational tourism has also impacted on the system of higher education. The
educational policies changed to make it suitable for both national and international
students. Oxford is the home of the oldest and reputed universities in the world. The
university of oxford is made up of different institutions, which includes 38 reputed
and consistent colleges (Oxfordcity.co.uk, 2019). These colleges have a range of
different academic departments. Due to boosts in educational tourism, oxford
educational structure has been updated and modernized. The educational structure
of the city includes primary schools to different educational centers, which are
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specialists in some academic courses. Moreover, different higher education
establishments and private sector schools are the main attractions. As a positive
social impact, a change in the educational system in oxford is significant. Due to
increased attraction by students from all over the world, different educational
facilities were updated and offered to international students. This includes specialist
educational facilities, adult learning centers, and training centers. Different funding
bodies are engaged in the system that has helped to improve facilities in and around
the city. Moreover, tutorial colleges and English language learning schools were also
established around the city to facilitate international students.
In the last half of the century, an increase in the number of students who are
studying abroad can be seen. This growth of international students has provided
benefits to different stakeholders related to the higher education system of the
country. Moreover, graduating from universities of oxford makes a person more
eligible in the job market. This positive image of the educational tourist destination
has increased demand among international students. Moreover, the growth of
educational tourism in the city of Oxford has improved the educational infrastructure
of the city and impacted on the literacy rate of the country. Besides, growth in a
number of institutions has increased the employment rate of the region. Significant
development and growth can be seen in oxford in the past few decades. On the
other hand, the economy of the destination has also changed a lot due to the
increased number of international tourists. As stated by Maga and Nicolau (2018),
the main positive social impact of tourism is growing in the economy of a place.
Huge rush of international students has changed the economic condition of the
region. This has enabled stakeholders to maintain a continuously improved process
in the city of oxford. This includes providing facilities like accommodation, hostels,
and others.
The development of ethnic and national consciousness is another essential
social impact, which can be seen due to educational tourism. Different culture gets
mixed and exchanged, which helps to create a cross-cultural communication (Sie et
al. 2016). Understanding others' cultures is very essential in the modern-day world.
This enables a person to accept other cultures and get accustomed to another
environment. This helps to get an upper hand in a job environment (Badau and
Badau, 2018). A cross-cultural environment helps to accomplish cultural exchange
and prevent hate and prejudice from a person's mind regarding other cultures. This
helps to eliminate bad social practices like discrimination. Local students get
interacted with international students, which help in positive intercultural mixing.
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International students have the strength to modify the content and system of
education properly. For example, during the time of classroom debates, they are
enabled to bring an international standpoint. These influence teachers to adopt new
approaches to instruct and guide the students, which are totally different from the
previous ways (Sie et al. 2016). International students can bring a new method of
thinking and handling challenges. This creates a steady flow of ideas and local
students can get benefited from it. For example, international students can have a
greater understanding of self, which can motivate or change the behavior of local
students. Moreover, internal competition among students gets increased, which
improves the level of education. Different social impacts of educational tourism in
oxford have been discussed in this dissertation with the help of different relevant
kinds of literature. This literature is collected from eligible sources. In addition, proper
methodology is followed for gaining desired objectives and conducting analysis. This
has helped to provide recommendations to bring new improvement.
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2. BACKGROUND (RATIONALE)
Over the past decades, the growth of tourism industry has been experienced
access all the parts of the however UK seems to be an exception. Researcher shows
that more than 37.9 million people came from other parts of the world to visit UK in
2018 contributing to about $22.9 billion. The figure is perceived to have dropped by
3% as compared to 2017, when UK was ranked on position seven by the UNWTO
behind other countries such as France, Spain, USA, China, Italy and Mexico (Hall
2014). Despite the perceived drop in tourism rate in UK, there has been tremendous
increase in the number of students in search of educational knowledge resulting into
a mare increase of tourism rate in regard to the cities found in UK such as Oxford.
Due to the recent tremendous growth in tourism industry, there has been perceived
to have educational knowledge on the field, leading to large number of tourists
flocking into different countries.
The booming figures of tourism attractions are complemented by socio-
economic growth through building welfares commencing trades, increase in job
opportunities and commerce, evolving infrastructures within nations and wide-
openfor various cultures. It is very unfortunate that these rising figures failed to
influence policy makers and the government of this country to value the importance
of educational tourism in terms of national and sub-national levels. The impact of this
tourism can be seen more specifically in sub-national level (Judd and Fainstein,
1999). This research is focusing on the educational tourism that is a growing trend in
the international tourism. Framing proper policies helps a government to earn
satisfaction from tourists and this helps to motivate tourists to visit a destination to
fulfil their purposes.
The international education growth generally comes with numerous benefits
for wide range of stakeholders that take advantage of the higher education
programs. Additionally, all the students that have graduated from such institutions
tend to have better competitive advantage in the global job market (Kim, Jun, Walker
and Drane 2015). Numerous benefits are associated with international tourism such
as improved national economic, cultural status as well as social benefits. The
international educational programs tend to bring people together that are from
different backgrounds and experiences but with a common objective in the education
field. Studying in a different country does not only bring the students close to one
another but also bring students close to the locals found in the foreign nation (AL
Shwayait 2017). The nature and influence of the association between foreign
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students and the local people thus create the aim of the study since it affects social
relationships.
Oxford is perceived as the city of universities found in England with a
population more than 155,000. Oxford city main educational institution is the
University of Oxford; the oldest University in English speaking world and the second-
largest in the world after University of Bologna (Mundt, 2018). Oxford Brookes
University is the modern university that is ranked first among the modern universities
in UK. The university’s attributes have made it be ranked as the best. Both the
universities are leading to a large number of students from every part of the world,
translating to more than 55% of foreign students (Bingle, 2018).
The University of Oxford has a total of 30 colleges and every year, a huge
number of international students are coming to Oxford for gaining an education. As
mentioned by McGladdery and Lubbe (2017), this university is the center of
attraction for the students throughout the world and this fact has helped to develop
educational tourism at this place. According to this university authority, these
colleges are the places that can be considered as academic communities and their
responsibility is to provide the best quality tutorial to all of their students. At present,
more than 24 thousand students are learning under this university and among them,
90% of them have mentioned in the National Student Survey that they are satisfied
with the quality of courses at Oxford University. As stated by Iglesias (2016), these
statistics are indicating that the educational tourism of Oxford may grow further if
these students aware of others about the level of satisfaction in studying under
Oxford University. On the other hand, there is another university, named Oxford
Brookes University. Students of both of these universities migrate in and out based
on the timings of the terms of these universities. It has been found that 24% of the
adult population of this city is full-time students (Oxford.gov.uk, 2019). Among them,
near about one-third of these students are international migrants. As per the reports
of Oxford University, more than 90% of the students of this university get good
employment opportunities after graduating. Due to this reason, more students are
coming to this place and this fact is contributing to the growth of the educational tour
of this place.
The educational tourism of Oxford has a great impact on the community of
Oxford. Local students are getting opportunities to communicate with people from all
over the world to understand different cultures. As mentioned by Medlik (2016), the
exchange of culture is making people learn and improve skills. As a result, they are
securing a good career for themselves. On the other hand, it can be observed that
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the government of the UK understands that this growing sector of the tourism
industry is helping them to improve the economic status of this country. Due to this
reason, they are making it easier for international students to survive and get an
education from Oxford. According to Yousif and Salindo (2018), Oxford can be
considered as the gateway to the rest parts of Oxfordshire as this city has the best
quality accommodation, food, and transportation facilities for people. Students are
living in this place for completing their terms of universities easily. This fact has
changed the lives of the local people of Oxford. They have started businesses that
can help international students to live comfortably. It can be stated that the
educational tourism has increased the employment opportunities in Oxford. Local
people are getting opportunities to get jobs in hotels, restaurants and other
businesses associated with educational tourism. Every year, staying visitors of
Oxford are helping the tourism industry to generate more than £780 million from the
local businesses. As the local population is earning from this industry, their mental
and physical health is being secured. Sufficient employment opportunities influence
people to look after their personal life, health, and wellbeing.
Besides the university heritage, Oxford has many other attractions including
the Ashmolean Museum, University Museum of Natural History, Pitt Rivers Museum
and many others. International students often visit these places for gaining more
knowledge. In addition, it can be seen that they influence their friends and families to
visit these places when they come to visit them at Oxford. Based on this aspect,
these places are gaining profit from the tickets and they are also contributing to the
national economy. As said by Harazneh et al. (2018), the government of the UK is
using its economic strength to ensure further social development. Redistribution of
wealth is being ensured due to the growth of educational tourism in Oxford. Income
is being generated and it is being spent on other areas. Local people are getting
opportunities to earn from this industry and it is helping them to improve the standard
of their lives. Their children are getting opportunities to get admitted to the best
educational institute and in the future, they can build bright careers. On the other
hand, it can be stated that the growth of educational tourism is helping organizations
associated with this sector to contribute to society. All of the medium and large
businesses of Oxford focus on Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR). CSR
programs of these organizations help to solve social issues. As mentioned by
Dembovska et al. (2016), the standard of living improves due to increased number of
international migrants. International tourists are spending money on food,
accommodation, and education. This aspect is increasing the supply of basic
amenities to the local population of Oxford. They are being able to spend money on
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recreation as well. Other sectors of the tourism industry of this place are being
benefited due to the continuous growth of educational tourism.
Due to the major impacts of educational tourism on society, it has become
important for the researchers to conduct research about this fact. The exact level of
changes in society due to this section of tourism must be evaluated (Changhong and
Hongyu, 2017). On the other hand, the cultural heritage of society changes if local
people communicate with international people. The exchange of culture takes place.
It is another important aspect that needs further investigation. This research paper is
evaluating the nature of social exchange that is contributing to the betterment of
living standards of Oxford. Additionally, it is important to understand the contribution
of the universities of Oxford city in developing the educational tourism industry that
has a great impact on society. It can be seen that increasing employment
opportunities due to this tourism is improving the standard of living. This paper is
evaluating the impact of increasing employment opportunities on ensuring the mental
and physical well being of the local population of Oxford.
3. AIM OF THE RESEARCH
The current study aims at exploring the impacts that result from the
educational tourism in the local community found in Oxford through the social
relationship between the international and the local students.
4. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
1. To review the literature on educational tourism and social exchange in Oxford
2. To identify the nature of the social exchange due to the educational tourism
3. To identify the possible social impact of educational tourism
4. To identify the nature of the impact in Oxford
5. To analyse data and compare findings with existing literature intending to find
out the social impacts in oxford based on education tourism and drawing
conclusion for the interpretation.
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5. LITERATURE REVIEW
The current chapter reviews the definitions of tourism, the impacts of tourism
in reference to Oxford and later the academic works in regard to the educational
tourism and social impacts.
5.1. DEFINITION OF TOURISM
Tourism tends to have vast definitions depending on the contextual situation.
Hall (2014) denotes tourism as a collection of the mutual association between the
tourist and different parties such as suppliers, local communities and government.
According to the WTO (2014) tourism refers to the combinations of different activities
carried out by people from different areas and visiting a different place for a short
period with an aim to fulfil their travel desires (Mossner 2014). Similarly, Semenza
and Ebi (2019) define tourism as a combination of complicate activities carried out by
human being in a new environment to fulfil their vocational objectives.
5.2. THE IMPACTS OF TOURISM
To satisfactorily determine the impacts of tourism, researcher will be
obligated to identify various impacts of tourism in reference to the host country/
Oxford while focusing specific groups under the study. Generally, Raftopoulos (2018)
states that international tourism tends to benefits all the population found in those
regions through economic, cultural, political and environmental changes. According
to OECD (2015) report, small states such as Oxford tends to benefit from tourism
activities significantly as a result of the low costs of the tourism industry and the high
profits accrued from the social and economic departments (Scott and Marzano
2015). Nevertheless, it is better stated that too much reliance on tourism can lead to
some adverse effects that might be costly in terms of developments of tourism
industry in small states such as Oxford.
Therefore, the researcher finds it imperative to incline so much of the
literature towards identifying social facts and educational tourism. Hall (2014)
indicates that tourism as an international framework will inter-socially affect
numerous countries either positively or negatively depending on the social structure
of the host country.
Social impact of tourism
According to Progano (2018) social factors are closely connected to the
cultural factors, reason being social constructions are always determined by beliefs
values, behaviours as well as traditions, thus the impacts might be culturally based.
Tourists are perceived as a framework that brings in foreigners and host into a
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common ground providing a room to learn from one another through direct
interaction. It is worth noting that it is imperative for the host country to be a bit
responsive and educated to enhance the quality of services offered to the tourist.
Through the interaction between the foreigners and the locals, various social
facilities tend to be developed such as entertainment sites leading to increased
economic benefits and exchange of social aspects, such as hanging out,
conversation among many others. Additionally, the interaction between the hoist and
the foreigners results into the emergence of new ideas, values and motivations for
the social progress (Perić 2018). Perić (2018) also notes that tourism has the
capacity to revitalize the social life of the locals, while at the same time attract the
attention of foreign visitors.
According the literature review, the most negative social impact experienced
as a result of tourism is the loss of the social construct of the locals whiles the host
focus on providing quality service to the foreigners to achieve a desired economic
growth. As tourist enters into regions, the host countries social and cultural
behaviours are always changed to fit in with the visitor's programs, that later led to
the diminishing of the human connections.
5.3. EDUCATIONAL TOURISM
Over the past decade, the number is students traversing across borders to
secure admissions in various colleges and universities have increased. On the
recent report by (AL Shwayait 2017) the number of international students entering
into the U.S were about 764500 by the end of 2012, meaning that during the decade
the number of foreign students increased by more than 30%. The percentage
increase of the foreign student is attributed to some factors such as: the move by the
American colleges and Universities in accepting foreign students, the promotion of
the U.S higher education institutions by the government and the increase if the
economic situations among the middle class enhancing their capability to finance
their children in the international educational institutions.
5.4. DEFINITION OF EDUCATION TOURISM AND A BRIEF HISTORY
Educational tourism refers to any arrangement that enables participants to
move from their home country to another country with the aim of learning directly
from the host country (Oktadiana and Chon 2016). Educational tourism is vast and
includes other sub-aspect such as ecotourism, rural tourism, heritage tourism and
students exchange between the educational centres. Educational tourism dates back
in the 1840s when the education n system was formalized to have different groups.
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According to Oktadiana and Chon (2016) the method focused on the capability of the
individual to travel in different places for self-improvement thus was commonly
known as “educational travel”.
Currently, educational tourism covers a wide range of stakeholders such as
accommodation facilities, transportation systems, and food and beverage industry
entertainment among others. However, the main purpose of the current study is to
determine the impact of educational tourism on the social construct of the host
country. Therefore, the relationship between the educational visitors and locals can
result into numerous social impacts such as the capability of the host students to
release the significance of language as well improvement of the international
engagement that results into social realization.
Travelling for the objective of education is not a new concept. Previously,
formal education had started for different age groups. Generally, students from rural
areas, travel all the way to urban cities for the purpose of achieving an education.
This is because a greater level of infrastructure and facilities are available in those
areas. As time passed, this concept has been modified and at present students
travel from one country to another for achieving an education. As opined by
Sulaiman et al. (2019), at present different students from undeveloped countries
travel to developed countries for achieving an education. This helps to increase their
competency in the job market and increase social status.
Educational tourism is a large term, which ranges from school trips to
studying in other countries to gain higher degrees (Castillo Arredondo et al. 2018).
Moreover, attending seminar vacations, travelling to other nations for achieving
technical experiences and attending courses abroad from professional people to
enrich skills are some other forms of educational tourism. Harazneh et al. (2018)
contradicted that traveling for language learning and enhancing skills are some other
objectives of educational tourism. This gives scope to students to interact with
students of other cultures and nature and gain behavioral inputs. Exploiting cultural
and social aspects is very essential for an educational tour.
THEORIZING LOCAL’S SOCIAL RESPONSE TO TOURISM
5.5. Social Distance Concept
According to AL Shwayait (2017) describe the educational tourist social
impacts through the use of the Social Distance Concept (SDC) that denotes to the
rate of comprehension and nearness between an individual and the social
connections (Stoltz and Taylor 2019). SDC developed by Bogardus comprises two
main critical factors that clarify the distance between two societies, and these are
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