INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION campusreview. com. au
Tough customers
Prospective students from overseas seek value for their dollar, and Australian institutions must get the message out that they can provide it.
David Coulter interviewed by James Wells
Research shows Australia remains a top destination for international students, despite concerns about value for money.
The Buyer Behaviour 2015 study that international student placement services provider IDP Education released at the recent Australian International Education Conference( AIEC) has found that while Australia ranks highly for quality, safety and proximity to home countries, prospective students still have serious concerns. These include questions about the value of studying abroad, especially with Australia’ s high cost of living, high university fees, and work opportunities after graduation.
The study found about one-third of students who did not choose Australia as their first preference for overseas study cited high cost of university fees and high cost of living as their primary reasons. This is despite recent and significant falls in the Australian dollar. Fifteen per cent also believed there were better employment opportunities in other English-speaking countries.
Here, David Coulter, IDP market research analyst, details the report’ s findings and implications.
CR: David, could you give us the key points of your study, which were unveiled recently at AIEC?
DC: What we were presenting were student perceptions of the main five English speaking destinations – Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the US.
We looked at modes of information seeking, how students are a resource and what sources they used when looking at where to apply. We also looked a little bit at the view of their own personal responsibilities around things like finding employment, internships, work experience and things of that nature. Also a bit about their expectations and their actual lived experiences studying here and where the gap between those two might lie.
Why does Australia still remain a destination of choice compared with other Western nations? Look, there are just so many reasons why Australia is a fantastic destination for students. The sorts of things that come through when we ask students are probably the obvious ones. We’ ve got incredibly high quality of institutions, and lifestyle factors are obviously a big driver there. It’ s still regarded as a safe environment as well. Also, there have been changes in the last couple of years, which Australians would be aware of, around post-study work rights, which have continued to make Australia attractive.
How can Australia further support international students who want to work in Australia after they graduate? I guess there are two [ aspects to this ], aren’ t there? First, we’ ve got post-study work rights, depending on the level of study you undertook in country and work. [ The other aspect is what ] opportunities are actually available for you.
We know greater employment opportunity is a real driver of student choice. I think about three-quarters of students, or maybe a little less, are looking to stay on after they finish their degree and try to get at least some work experience in country. What institutions can do is try to embed things like internships, work experience and general support services to help make that transition to employment [ part of ] their curriculum.
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