INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
campusreview.com.au
The
Trump
jump
T
Expect students
and academics
to be more
likely to give the
US a miss and
consider Australia
in the wake of
the real-estate
developer’s
surprise
presidential
election win.
Chris Ziguras
interviewed by
James Wells
8
he International Education Association of
Australia predicts the country will experience
an influx of international students and
academics due to the election of Donald Trump
to the White House and the UK’s Brexit from the
European Union.
Professor Chris Ziguras, president of the IEAA, says this
possible boom is “a bittersweet thing to contemplate”
because, while many in the higher-education sector are
horrified to see Trump elected, it could benefit Australia’s
universities. Ziguras pointed to a survey of 40,000
students from 118 countries, which reported 60 per cent
of international students would be more likely to steer
clear of the US if Trump was elected. Comparatively, only
4 per cent of these students says they would avoid the
US if Hillary Clinton were elected.
Ziguras says 60 per cent is likely an overestimate,
though many would be reconsidering study in the US.
“What that shows is that the majority of students
considering the US would be less excited about the
states and a little bit wary now,” Ziguras says. “I think
that will translate into less student interest and those
students will be looking for other places to go. The
obvious candidates at the moment are Canada,
Australia and New Zealand. Given that the UK has put
the ‘we’re full’ sign up, recently, they’re not particularly
inviting larger numbers of international students.”
Ziguras also warns that Australia is susceptible to
succumbing to the same sort of “xenophobic and
anti-immigration” policies that have found favour
recently in the UK and US. He says this largely stems
from a backlash against wealth inequality, in which
people lay blame on the easy targets of foreigners and
globalisation.
“The [political] right in the US and UK have
capitalised on that,” he says.
He argues that maintaining Australia’s international
student sector depends on community support, and
that community support depends on fixing wealth
inequality. In 2014–15, the Australian Bureau of
Statistics valued international education at $18.8 billion,
making it Australia’s third-largest export.
“We need to make sure the higher-education sector
is tackling economic inequality broadly,” Ziguras says.
“But for international education as a sector, we need
to make sure the benefits of internationalisation are
felt widely across the community.”
Ziguras also predicts an influx of US students
into the international student market. He says more
academics will be seeking work in Australia.
“We’re very welcoming to staff from all over the world
but it’s terrible to see them motivated to come here by
such a tragedy,” he says.
Andrew Norton, the Grattan Institute’s higher
education program director, says the Australian
academic job market is competitive right now and
there might not be space for academics from the US.
Here, Campus Review sits down with Ziguras to
discuss the probable effects of Brexit and a Donald
Trump presidency on the higher-education sector
in Australia.
CR: What do you think a Trump presidency means for
Australia’s higher-education sector?
CZ: Most people working in higher education in
Australia will be horrified and have [concerns] both
about what that means for the US, for their colleagues
in the states, and for people around the globe.