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Industry executives say the sector must expand overseas recruiting grounds, spruik quality. By Antonia Maiolo

Harrington’ s comments come following a recent Hobsons survey that revealed Brazil is a growing market for international student recruitment to Australia.

“ Australia is on the wish list of many international students because they know our universities offer a high-quality and internationally recognised education,” he said.

International Education Association of Australia executive director Phil Honeywood said the research provides a reminder that new countries and markets need to be explored and targeted.

“ Who would have thought 10 years ago that Brazil would be such a key market for Australia today,” Honeywood said, adding that we now find we have five times as many students from Latin American countries as we did a decade ago.

The survey, which questioned more than 9200 students from 179 countries, revealed that Australia remains a popular destination for overseas students. It also found that sizeable proportions of international students wanted to gain tertiary qualifications in engineering and technology( 13 per cent), business and administrative studies( 12 per cent) or management studies( 8 per cent) at Australian universities. Those three categories comprised a third of all international students.

Indian students were found to be most likely to study engineering and computer science( 47 per cent), whilst Chinese students – the largest market for international enrolments – are drawn towards business administrative studies and management degrees( 33 per cent).

Languages, medicine and creative arts are in high demand in general, whilst prospective students from Brazil are most likely to enrol in business and administrative studies( 27 per cent).

Honeywood said the survey also highlights that Australian education providers need to focus more on teacher and course quality, over traditional marketing elements such as weather and lifestyle.

Honeywood said,“ Recently published data showed Australia was allegedly the most expensive study destination in the world – so by focusing more on teacher and course quality this may override some of the living cost issues.”

Harrington agreed saying,“ It’ s no longer enough for higher education institutions to hold events internationally and promote the warm weather, beaches and native wildlife.”

The survey also revealed that almost half – 48 per cent – of international students studying or wanting to study at Australian universities came from low-income backgrounds.

Despite this, tuition fees, scholarships and living expenses were not the top issues for prospective international students choosing a university.

Instead, teacher quality, subject availability and academic reputation ranked first, second and third, respectively, as the biggest concerns. Teaching quality and scholarship opportunities were the most decisive factors when students were comparing two universities.

Australia’ s institutions have to be far more focused on communicating a return on investment in recruitment strategies to attract, engage and retain students, Harrington said, adding that the industry must take a holistic view of the higher education offering to meet the demands of today’ s global market. n

Countries with most students in Australia

Source: Australian Education International 2012 enrolments data.

6 | campusreview. com. au