The notion that universities operate as a public good is ¡°unrealistic¡± and dishonest, according to a higher education consultant who claimed that the sector should not be so arrogant to ¡°bestow¡± its vision on the world.

Daniel Guhr, managing director of US-based Illuminate Consulting Group, said that higher education exists ¡°in a world of the 1 per cent¡±, in terms of the proportion of people across the world who study at universities.

¡°We often operate in a world where international education is [seen as] for the common good and the advancement of humanity and everyone should volunteer and the government should pay for everything,¡± he said.

¡°That¡¯s just completely unrealistic and often not actually very honest because it is a massive business right now, and maybe it should be understood as such.¡±

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Dr Guhr continued: ¡°We have always assumed that what we¡¯re doing is global and honourable. And in many ways it is. But it is for a tiny fraction of society.¡±

He added that internationalisation has often been at a ¡°significant disconnect¡± with local communities.

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¡°A very sizeable number of international students are now more affluent than the average German or Canadian or middle-class American. There is still a fundamental misbelief that has been carried over that international students are all smart and all poor. We live in a different time now,¡± he said during a panel debate on the return of the nation state at the annual conference of the European Association for International Education on 14 September.

¡°If you think about any university city, housing has become a huge issue... Who are buying town houses and apartments? International students,¡± he continued.

Dr Guhr said that cities and businesses ¡°follow the money¡±, which means that they ¡°exclude more and more segments in domestic populations¡±.

He warned delegates that his comments might make universities feel ¡°uncomfortable¡± but said that any wounding remarks were ¡°self-inflicted by higher education¡±.

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Dr Guhr also rejected the notion that, to conquer the disconnect between universities' global ambitions and local responsibilities, international education should be made available to everyone.

¡°That is just wrong. The vast majority of people don¡¯t care about international experiences. That¡¯s not what they want, that¡¯s not what they need. So why should we assume that we¡¯re so important that we¡¯re going to bestow this vision on absolutely everybody?¡± he said.

However, during a separate session earlier in the day on the topic of universities and cities, James Ransom, policy researcher at Universities UK, argued that choosing ¡°one or the other¡± when it came to institutions¡¯ local development and internationalisation, was a ¡°false trade-off¡±.

¡°You can be internationally engaged, internationally committed, while still doing excellent work on the doorstep of the university,¡± he said. ?

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ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com