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International rescue
Why not a vision of educating several million people in our region through innovative online and hybrid courses ?
Minister outlines strategy for the international education sector .
By Wade Zaglas
Federal education minister Alan Tudge used a speech given at RMIT to urge a rethink of Australia ’ s international education strategy and call on universities to develop more online courses to attract international students from untapped markets .
Tudge ’ s speech discussed key ideas relating to the new International Education Strategy for 2021 to 2030 .
“ Can we use levers , including migration levers , to encourage more students to study in the areas where we know we have shortages ?” he asked .
“ Currently , almost half of international enrolments at universities are concentrated in commerce , while fields like engineering , maths , technology and health attract significantly lower enrolment shares than the OECD average .”
Australia ’ s international education sector , the country ’ s fourth-biggest export market , has been battered by border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic . To address this , the strategy calls for a departure from the traditional on-campus model by developing cheaper online or flexible learning options to attract students who cannot afford to study in Australia on a full-time basis .
“ Why not a further vision of educating several million people in our region through
innovative online and hybrid courses ?” the education minister continued .
“ The global online e-learning market is forecast to grow from $ 130 billion to more than $ 470 billion by 2026 . This growth is driven by students around the world seeking lower-cost education , as well as greater flexibility in how and where they learn .”
The education minister also expressed concern about the current strategy , saying that universities have participated in a “ relentless ” pursuit to generate revenue through international student fees — a strategy he says has helped subsidise research and rankings ambitions but compromised the education of all students .
“ Having up to 60 per cent of a classroom with international students from just one or two other countries is not optimising the Australian student experience — or the international student experience ,” Tudge said .
“ I hear constant feedback along these lines .”
Chinese and Indian students comprise more than 55 per cent of the country ’ s international student market . According to Tudge , such concentration “ lowers the resilience of the international education sector to changes in global demand ”.
“ This incredible growth has been good for our economy , but even before COVID hit , strains were appearing and the continued rate of growth of on-campus enrolments was not sustainable in my view . This is particularly true for our public institutions which have a broader mandate .”
Further , while many Chinese students continued or commenced their studies online at Australian universities in 2020 , the number of Indian students choosing to study in Australia “ collapsed by more than 80 per cent in the second half of last year ”, the Australian Financial Review reported .
The relationship between international student fees and university operating revenue has also been severely undercut by the pandemic . Indeed , Universities Australia said that the loss of international student revenue in 2020 led to an estimated 17,300 redundancies in the higher education sector .
While the education minister ’ s longterm strategy calls for more flexible and diversified ways of responding to a disrupted sector , he was still hopeful that overseas students will return to Australian campuses en masse by semester one next year .
The Independent Tertiary Education of Council Australia ( ITECA ) has welcomed the announcement by the education minister to work with the sector in establishing a new strategy for international education .
“ With the continued closure of international borders resulting in a sustained decline in on-shore enrolments of international students , ITECA members in the international education sector will continue to do it tough . The nextgeneration Australian International Education Strategy needs to put in place arrangements to get these providers back on their feet ,” ITECA chief executive Troy Williams said .
ITECA is calling for a new International Education Commission “ to bring together the disparate Australian Government activities in the international education sector ”.
“ We need a whole of government approach to regulation of tertiary education providers , visa processing and market promotion . It ’ s time for a single Australian Government agency to coordinate these activities ,” Williams said . ■
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