Last Updated on November 8, 2026 by Karl Thompson
The globalisation of education refers to how a ‘global system’ of education is emerging, beyond the level of individual countries. Four examples of this are:
- PISA league tables rank countries according to how well 15-year-olds score in tests of reading, maths and science.
- International companies are increasingly providing educational services in Britain and abroad.
- Universities are recruiting students from all over the world, and teaching students abroad.
- The rise of online learning and digital education.
Below I will briefly consider each of these aspects of the globalisation of education in more depth, applying some sociological perspectives to provide some analytical depth, before asking how global education really is.
This post is about education becoming a global system. For how globalisation has affected schools and education policy in the UK, see my post on globalisation and education.
PISA International Tests
PISA stands for the Programme for International Student Assessment, which conducts standardised tests of 15-year-olds in dozens of different countries in reading, maths and science and produces league tables which rank countries based on the average student performance. In the 2025 round, England’s average scores were 516 in science, 497 in reading and 492 in maths, all significantly above the OECD average.
These tests are conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which is a global organisation aiming to promote peace, prosperity and equality of opportunity.
From a New Right/ neoliberal perspective the publication of league tables should encourage competition between countries as those countries nearer the bottom should not want to be down there and so adapt their education policies in order to improve their outcomes.
It should also promote comparative education research on the part of policy makers as they seek to investigate what it is about the education systems of high performing countries that makes them come at the top of the league tables.
The results of such cross national investigations could then be applied on a national basis, although to be successful policies may have to be adapted to fit local cultures.
International Companies and the Globalisation of Education
International companies are increasingly providing educational services in Britain and abroad.
One example of this is where companies such as Apple and Microsoft provide educational software to schools all over the world.
A second example is international exam boards providing assessment services and text books to different countries. Pearson, which owns the Edexcel exam board, sells international qualifications in many countries, and so does Cambridge International.
From a neoliberal perspective, this makes sense as these companies are efficient and in a better position to provide such services than especially governments in poorer countries (who tend to lack money).
From a Marxist perspective, this is a process of mainly Western companies gaining power and control over the education systems of poorer countries.
Global education companies are an example of what Ball and Youdell call exogenous privatisation: the privatisation of public education, where private companies take over services. See my post on the privatisation of education.
International Students and UK Universities Abroad
UK universities are some of the most global institutions in the country. They recruit students from all over the world to study in the UK, and they increasingly teach students in other countries.
| UK higher education and globalisation | Figure |
|---|---|
| Students at UK universities, 2024/25 | 2,863,180 |
| International students at UK universities, 2024/25 | 685,565 (about 24% of all students; down 6% on the year before) |
| Of whom from the EU | 63,500 (down 16% on the year before) |
| Largest sending countries | India and China, which together account for 47% of non-EU international students |
| Students studying for UK degrees overseas (transnational education), 2023/24 | 653,570, in 231 countries and territories; China is the largest host (89,425) |
| International fee income, 2024/25 | About £12.4 billion, 23% of UK universities’ total income |
Sources: HESA, Higher Education Student Statistics: UK, 2024/25 (27 January 2026); Universities UK International, The Scale of UK Higher Education Transnational Education 2023–24 (from the HESA Aggregate Offshore Record); Migration Observatory, Student migration to the UK (2026).
Why do UK universities recruit so many international students?
Mainly it is about money. The fees universities can charge home undergraduates in England are capped: £9,000 a year from 2012, £9,250 from 2017 and £9,535 in 2025/26. Because the cap rose so little for so long, it has fallen in real terms, and many universities say they lose money on teaching home students. Fees for international students are not capped, so universities rely on them to cross-subsidise home teaching and research.
This suggests that, rather than ‘pushing out’ British students, international students may be helping to pay for them. The number of EU students fell sharply after Brexit, because EU students starting courses from 2021 have had to pay international fees rather than home fees.
There is also demand: a growing middle class in countries such as India and China wants a UK degree, and UK universities are well regarded internationally.
Perspectives on international students
From a neoliberal perspective, this is how a global market should work. British universities are free to sell their services to anyone in the world, and the income benefits British students too.
From a Marxist perspective, the global market in higher education mainly benefits a global elite who can afford international fees, and does little for the poor, so it may perpetuate global inequality. In the UK, critics worry that competition for places at the most selective universities could hit working-class British applicants hardest.
Is this really globalisation?
The figures suggest a more complicated picture than ‘global’ universities. Recruitment depends heavily on a small number of countries: India and China each made up about 23% of new international students in 2024/25. I’d argue that this looks less like globalisation and more like bilateralism: strong links between UK universities and two or three countries, rather than a genuinely worldwide system. International recruitment has also fallen for two years in a row, so the trend isn’t simply upwards.
Against that, transnational education is growing fast, with more than 650,000 students taking UK degrees in other countries. UK universities are increasingly going to the students rather than waiting for students to come to them.
Digital Education and Globalisation
Digital education has seen phenomenal growth over the last two decades, not only that coming from formal educational establishments such as universities which have restricted access for fee paying students but also much cheaper offerings from organisations such as Udemy and free to view educational services such as TED talks.
These online learning platforms are inherently global rather than national or local in nature simply because they can be accessed from anyone anywhere in the world who has access to a smartphone, and enough money in the case of paid-for courses. For more on how far online learning has spread, see my post on online education trends.
The globalisation of education: analysis
There are certainly some moves towards education becoming more global, but it is not clear what kind of globalisation this is.
The people and institutions pushing the globalisation of education – the OECD, global companies such as Apple and Google, Universities and online learning platforms – these would probably be global optimists seeing this process as benefitting everyone – for example people in developing countries can benefit from access to free educational resources via Udemy and TED talks.
Global pessimists however might be more sceptical seeing the globalisation of education as more about the spread of Western market ideologies into the developing world.
It’s also worth being critical about how genuinely global education is – it is still nation states who maintain education systems through taxes and shape the national curriculums, for example.
A counter-example: China’s ‘double reduction’ policy (2021)
China shows how far a nation state can reverse both the privatisation and the globalisation of education. In July 2021, China’s government issued the ‘double reduction’ policy, aimed at reducing both homework and after-school tutoring for children of compulsory school age. Under the policy:
- tutoring companies teaching school subjects had to register as non-profit organisations, and no new ones would be approved;
- they were barred from raising money on the stock market, and foreign investment in them was banned;
- subject tutoring was banned at weekends and in the school holidays;
- homework was cut, with none at all for the youngest pupils.
The effect on the tutoring industry was dramatic. By November 2021, around two-thirds of tutoring institutions in Beijing were reported to have closed, and foreign companies running online tutoring for Chinese children lost much of their market.
The policy can be read in several ways. It looks like a move towards a more child-centred education, reducing pressure on children. It is also an example of reversing the privatisation of education, and a move away from neoliberalism. And by shutting out foreign education companies, it is an example of a state reversing the globalisation of education, which supports the argument that nation states still control their own education systems.
Exam relevance
The material above is relevant primarily to the education topic within A-level Sociology, the specification for which explicitly states students need to know about the relationship between globalisation and education. For the two real AQA questions on globalisation and education, with model answers, see my post on globalisation and education. For a practice 10-mark question, see analyse two ways globalisation may have changed pupils’ experience of education.
Sociology of Education Revision Bundle
If you like this sort of thing, then you might like my sociology of education revision notes bundle, written by Karl Thompson, who taught A-level sociology for eighteen years and spent twelve as an AQA examiner, marking all three papers on the current specification.
Signposting and Related Posts
- Globalisation and education: how globalisation has affected education in the UK
- The PISA global education tests: arguments for and against
- The privatisation of education
- Online education trends
This material is relevant to the sociology of education.
Please click here to return to the homepage – ReviseSociology.com
Sources
- China: Opinions on further reducing the burden of homework and off-campus training for students in compulsory education (‘double reduction’), issued by the General Office of the Communist Party Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, 24 July 2021 (as summarised by WilmerHale, 23 August 2021, and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade market report, November 2021).
- Department for Education (2026) national report on PISA 2025 for England (September 2026).
- HESA (2026) Higher Education Student Statistics: UK, 2024/25, 27 January 2026.
- Migration Observatory (2026) Student migration to the UK, briefing.
- Universities UK International (2025) The Scale of UK Higher Education Transnational Education 2023–24.