international education were also overseas-based agents whose motives in briefing students were less than pure or well informed. If these agents had never been to Australia they were more than likely to pass on fundamentally wrong information that did not serve the student well upon their arrival. Equally, if some agents were motivated by how much commission they might be able to obtain from a particular education institution, then they would be less inclined to provide students with objective advice about the course, institution or city that might be best suited to the particular student. Credible education institutions in Australia soon established which agents they could rely on to provide objective information, gave them more comprehensive training and ensured that they focused on genuine students in their application procedures.
Education institutions: Our institutions have, of their own volition, increasingly sought to ensure that both their contracted agents and the students they recruit are better informed about what to expect in Australia. This tends to occur through direct dialogue with students and their families at Education Fairs, student seminars hosted by Australian institutions at their agents’ offices, and increasingly through the use of social media. Since the advent of the Genuine Temporary Entrant test, there has also been a trend for both public universities and some private colleges to use their own overseas offices to maintain an ongoing dialogue and information sessions with prospective students. Many best-practice examples of institution-based pre-departure briefings can now be cited. Bad practices used to occur when students relied too heavily on a small number of less-than-ethical education providers as their principal source of information. Regulations are now being strongly adhered to about legitimate communication around, for example, which is the best city, course or institution that a prospective student should study in. Clearly, if a student arrives in any country with false expectations then the damage done to both the individual and that country’ s reputation can be enormous.
Government-auspiced briefings: Historically, a number of Australia’ s overseas postings hosted or assisted with pre-departure briefings for students intending to study in our country. Both the quantum and the quality of these briefings was very much dependent on the enthusiasm and resourcing of our overseas staff, particularly the Australia Education International counsellors at our embassies. In student source countries where, for cultural reasons, parents wanted to be well informed of what issues their children might experience in Australia, our education institutions often benefited from embassy-auspiced briefings. They provided a government seal of approval for the information being provided. With Austrade now taking on much of the marketing role that AEI used to provide in some offshore locations, less reliance is probably now being placed on this mode of communication than before.
On-shore orientation programs: Once international students arrive in Australia, they are encouraged, and often required, to participate in on-campus orientation. This is provided by the student’ s education institution and also increasingly by host cities as well. There is always a concern when some students do not properly participate in orientation. Overseas students who miss out on important orientation information in any country can have unfortunate experiences. If these same students have not been involved in pre-departure briefings then they can bring with them manifestly wrong pre-conceived notions and misinformation about their host country’ s culture and lifestyle that can also lead to adverse consequences.
Clearly, it is in everyone’ s interests that international students are equipped with the best possible information about their destination country, city and community before they embark on what should be a truly transformational experience. It is always difficult to establish exactly whose responsibility it is to provide sufficient information to young people. At one level, the range of social media available to them can provide a breadth of information that was never accessible to previous generations. At another level, the fact that some students might already perceive themselves to be global citizens, prior to studying abroad, might make them less inclined to truly understand the differences that occur between cultures. The excellent work of Australia’ s education institutions in attempting to fill knowledge gaps for their incoming and outgoing students should be acknowledged. Notwithstanding this, there may also be scope for corporate, philanthropic or government support of more comprehensive intercultural competency training to ensure that our students are truly well-informed citizens of the world. ■
Phil Honeywood is national executive director of the International Education Association of Australia. He is also a member of the New Colombo Plan Steering Committee. campusreview. com. au | 9