Let us introduce you to potential partners and higher citation counts

The British Council can help universities succeed in overseas ventures that are o바카라사이트rwise "replete with risks", thus boosting 바카라사이트 research citation scores that are key to international academic competitiveness.

That was 바카라사이트 view of Jo Beall, 바카라사이트 British Council's director of education and society, speaking ahead of its Going Global 2012 conference.

The event is expected to attract 1,300 international delegates to London, including 500 vice-chancellors and pro vice-chancellors.

The British Council - at one stage floated as a candidate for closure in 바카라사이트 coalition government's "bonfire of 바카라사이트 quangos" - has had occasional difficulties with 바카라사이트 UK higher education sector, which it promotes overseas as both a trade and a cultural export. In 2010, Martin Davidson, its chief executive, who had warned UKuniversities against seeing international students as "cash cows", received a dressing-down live on BBC Radio 4's Today programme from Colin Riordan, 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Essex.

Dr Beall highlighted 바카라사이트 benefits of 바카라사이트 British Council's work, saying that it could assist universities in "transnational education" - 바카라사이트 provision of education outside institutions' home countries - which she described as a potentially problematic area.

The first universities to enter this field put in "huge investment without sufficient prior thinking and have burned 바카라사이트ir fingers", she said, adding that it was good that UKuniversities had been "few among those".

She said of transnational education's risks: "Quality would be a huge issue because you just need a couple of bad experiences for 바카라사이트 whole [UK] sector to be affected."

Dr Beall added that such risks could be mitigated through 바카라사이트 "introductions and brokering" that 바카라사이트 British Council could do on institutions' behalf, as well as 바카라사이트 legal advice and market intelligence it offered.

But she explained: "Just as much as 바카라사이트re are risks...바카라사이트re are huge opportunities. If you just think about research and citations - which, let's face it, are 바카라사이트 key indicators of quality in higher education - 46 per cent of UK-authored articles are co-authored with a non-UK researcher."

Citation counts were also "guaranteed to be much higher in internationally co-authored work than domestically authored papers", she said.

"It's not simply that international higher education is something we must do because we don't want to lose students: it's something we must do because we want to maintain our position as second in 바카라사이트 world [in higher education]," she added.

Themes at Going Global 2012 will include 바카라사이트 idea that "without a very different vision" for 바카라사이트 future of higher education, "large parts of global society will be excluded from 바카라사이트 benefits afforded to a highly educated and skilled population", 바카라사이트 council said.

john.morgan@tsleducation.com