PMI Student Experience strand

The Prime Minister’s Initiative (PMI) was originally launched by the Government in 1999 as a 5-year strategy to increase the number of international students in the UK. In 2006 a second phase of the PMI was launched. This five-year strategy has four interconnected strands (marketing and communications, the quality of the student experience, strategic partnerships and alliances, and market diversification) and aims to:

• attract an additional 70,000 international students to UK HE and an additional 30,000 international students to UK FE
• double the number of countries sending more than 10,000 students per annum to the UK
• improve international student satisfaction in the UK
• achieve significant growth in the number of partnerships between the UK and other countries
• achieve significant growth in the number of partnerships between the UK and other countries

In order to achieve these aims, four sub-groups have been set up: an HE group, an FE/VET/ELT group, a student experience & employment sub-group and a market intelligence & research group.

The PMI therefore represents a major opportunity to increase the focus on the importance of the international student experience and UKCISA has agreed to co-ordinate the ‘student experience and employment’ strand and to manage a wide range of associated projects. Some projects are being run in-house and others are being developed in consultation with experts to produce publications and resources and run events.

A full overview of all strands of the PMI can be found from the Department of Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS) and British Council