VET community groups and educational and cultural institutions also play an important role. Stronger relationships will lead to more Australians having a deeper understanding of what is happening in Asia. In turn, more of our neighbours in the region will know us better than they do today.”
The International Education Association of Australia( IEAA) welcomed the White Paper. Phil Honeywood, executive director of IEAA said,“ As a major policy initiative, it underpins and endorses the long-term and multi-layered engagement that IEAA members have already undertaken with our neighbours in the Asian region.”
Connecting globally with students from our Asian neighbours and offering them world class training and job ready skills is an integral part of the future – in fact, it is a critical key to future success in the vocational market.
The white paper reiterates that we have a choice‘ to drift into our future or to actively shape it’. The drive to educate Australian students to compete in the‘ Asian Century’ complements the efforts of TAFE NSW to bring Asian students to our shores.
Asia’ s rise as an economic powerhouse has profound implications worldwide. Asia is already the most populous region in the world, and within a few years, it will be the largest producer and consumer of goods and services. The five key countries are China, India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.
China is Australia’ s largest two-way trading partner in goods and services with a value of $ 127.8 billion in 2012. The Indian economy is now the third largest in the world.
Indonesia, our most immediate neighbour, has emerged as a global power with its stock exchange valuation doubling since 2008 to become the third highest in Southeast Asia.
Japan is Australia’ s second largest export market and third largest source of foreign investment. South Korean investment in Australia grew by an annual average of almost 45 per cent to total $ 12.8 billion by 2011.
What is the‘ Asian Century’? Currently, 80 per cent of international students in Australia come from the Asian region. The opportunities are endless for bilateral educational partnerships to capitalise on skills development to meet current and future industry needs to grow the economies of our own nation as well as the economies of our Asian neighbours. The Indian government has set a target of up-skilling 500 million people by 2020.
In response to this ambitious target, a tripartite agreement was signed by TAFE NSW in November 2011 between Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd and Illawarra and Sydney Institutes to develop a new vocational training institute in India. This agreement is just one example of many potential opportunities.
We need to harness staff with specific knowledge of the products and markets of Asia and we also need staff that speak a variety of languages and understand different cultural nuances.
We need to ensure that our branding, services and opportunities are tailored to the global market. Australia is not the only country to recognise the potential of the global market.
Vocational educational institutions in the United States and Canada are aggressively marketing to overseas students to attract them to their shores. The global race has well and truly begun, and we need to generate sufficient stamina to survive.
Global challenges Global challenges were recently deliberated at a global forum of RC( Renewal and Change)-2020 in Sydney in March 2013. RC-2020 is an international alliance of some of the world’ s largest vocational and community colleges.
According to data from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship December 2012 quarter, vocational education had the lowest rate of student visa approvals at 76.1 per cent.
The high value of the Australian dollar was identified as
a significant challenge due to its impact on the cost of our training and living costs for onshore international students.
Other key challenges relate to the need for streamlined student visa processing and the genuine temporary entrant test for student visas. The Chaney Report Australia – Educating Globally, released by the International Education Advisory Council( IEAC) in February 2013, aims to address some of the regulatory challenges.
Claire Field, CEO of Australian Council for Private Education and Training( ACPET), said that these challenges also provide opportunities such as growing the market for online delivery throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Field said that online learning is cost effective, students can study in their own country at their own pace and, ultimately, it makes it easier for students to make the decision to invest in coming to Australia.
Higher education provides a further opportunity. TAFE NSW is a higher education provider and can now promote vocational training as a pathway to university rather than have overseas students seeing university as their only opportunity in Australia. Popular pathways include accounting, business, community welfare work, hospitality, interpreting and information technology.
Our students tell us they feel well-prepared for university – they understand Australian life and the Australian education system and are ready for the next step into higher education.
Where to from here? Australian training providers which benchmark themselves globally rather than looking inwardly will be best positioned to meet and exceed future challenges in the volatile vocational market.
The sector needs to position itself as a provider of choice to attract overseas students and make their educational experience the best possible.
Students need to be equipped with the skills they need to achieve their career goals and to return to their countries as‘ ambassadors’ for the Australian vocational sector. n
David Riordan is institute director, TAFE NSW – Sydney Institute. www. campusreview. com. au May 2013 | 37