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INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION key attributes employers want. It then sets out tips for acquiring employability skills in the first, second and final years of study in Australia. Finally, the guide provides advice to students for after graduation and emphasises the importance of students managing expectations, knowing their rights and benefiting from lifelong learning. IEAA was delighted to officially launch this guide at the CISA annual conference on July 6.
EDUCATION PROVIDER GUIDE Written by Deakin University academic Dr Cate Gribble, and sponsored by the Victorian and federal governments, this guide identifies nine good practice principles education providers are encouraged to embrace. It advises them to treat employability as core business, embed employability skills into their curricula from first year and provide international students with concurrent English-language learning opportunities. It also provides useful examples of how to better integrate domestic and international students. IEAA was pleased to launch this guide at a joint seminar with the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education on July 9.
EMPLOYER GUIDE Written in partnership with the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry, this guide’ s theme is how Australian employers can benefit from hiring international students. It contains separate sections on hiring international students and what policies apply, as well as managing interns and graduates. It also contains some excellent case studies of metropolitan and regional employers and how they have benefited from hiring international students. This guide will be launched in the near future at an appropriate employer-focused event.
Speakers at the symposium identified Australia as a relative latecomer in focusing on employability skills provision. Rob Lawrence, who recently conducted a research project on employability for the Australian Universities International Directors’ Forum, noted that many Australian education institutions have yet to resource their careers counselling services sufficiently to match competitor countries’.
Others noted that our complex industrial relations system does not encourage Australian employers to embrace internship arrangements. Recently, the Australian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Australian Collaborative Education Network, Australian Industry Group, Business Council of Australia, and Universities Australia combined to launch a Work Integrated Learning( WIL) strategy – a policy that was applauded.
Symposium attendees agreed, however, that a comprehensive communications campaign would be required if this WIL policy is to gain traction. The symposium also concluded that other employability-related skills, such as building selfconfidence, embracing cocurricular activities and engaging in cross-cultural group work, still require greater emphasis from all stakeholders.
The danger of complacency taking hold in this key student service delivery area is still ever present. Australia would do well to remember the employability policies a number of other destination countries are now embracing. A recent report that international students graduating from American universities in STEM courses may soon be offered six-year, post-study work visas has excited much interest in our major student source countries, including India and China. The fact that Canada and New Zealand are still offering onshore migration related to a period of study is also a pull factor for many students.
IEAA believes one of the important roles peak bodies can fulfil in our dynamic international education sector is to provide thought leadership and enhance collaboration between all stakeholders. In this context, it was heartening to see that employability was a major topic raised with the six federal ministers at the recent International Education Roundtable, as well as at the subsequent meeting of the new Coordinating Council for International Education. The issue has also been highlighted in some of the 120 submissions to the Draft National Strategy for International Education. The challenge for all stakeholders will be to transform this important discourse into meaningful policy reform and implementation. ■
Phil Honeywood is chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia( IEAA).
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