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election of Donald Trump has served to stop this momentum.
On the one hand, former president Barack Obama was proposing
six-year post-study work right visas for any overseas students
enrolling in US-based STEM degrees. On the other hand, Donald
Trump’s negative profiling of predominantly Muslim and Latin
American countries may partly account for Australia’s recent surge
in enrolments from nations such as Malaysia, Brazil and Colombia.
THE ACADEMIC ADVANTAGE
Undeniably, the comparative academic quality of our nation’s
education institutions is key to our continued overseas student
numbers growth. As Universities Australia’s Belinda Robinson noted
recently in Campus Review: “We know that international students
are attracted to Australia by the excellent quality of the education
we provide and the calibre of both teaching and research here.”
Our public TAFE Institutes and high quality private education
providers are also becoming increasingly recognised for their niche
advanced technical skills training and flexible multiskilling units of
competency delivery.
In recent consultations by the Federal Department of Education
and Training about reforms to the National Code, a strong case
was made by the Council of International Students Australia (CISA)
about the academic rationale for studying in Australia. As the vast
majority of their student members come from Asia, CISA suggested
that most had been taught under a traditional pedagogy based
on rote learning. They maintained that the key attraction to study
in Australia was a pedagogical approach that emphasised creative
thinking and critical analysis. When this is combined with the ability
to gain a qualification, in English, that is globally recognised, then
the academic pull factor for Australia becomes apparent.
THE FLIP SIDE: STUDENT SERVICE DELIVERY
While the focus on world’s best practice in teaching and learning
is laudable, our nation has come under increasing criticism for
not providing sufficient priority to the non-academic services
delivery areas. Access for international students to course-related
employability opportunities is a vexed issue. At one level, Australia
provides the ability for any overseas student to undertake paid
part-time work (full-time in semester breaks) in our economy.
At another level, our industrial relations system, combined with
genuine concerns about workplace exploitation, works against
providing ready access to course-related internships. Rightly
or wrongly, competitor study destination countries, including
Canada and the USA, have created a culture that is conducive to
widespread internship access.
In a similar vein, Australia has lagged behind other nations
in adequately resourcing on-campus career advice services.
Research conducted for the Australian Universities International
Directors’ Forum (AUIDF) noted that best-practice UK universities
resource their careers service at 4–5 times the level of their
Australian university counterparts. Happily, there are moves
afoot to meaningfully address the employability challenge here.
The creation of a National Work Integrated Learning Taskforce
which includes employer peak body, government and education
provider representatives is clearly a step in the right direction. The
publication by the International Education Association of Australia
of employability guides for international students, employers and
education providers is also providing meaningful assistance.
But even if an international student does find course-related
international education
paid employment in our economy, their sense of not being
treated fairly becomes apparent as soon as they decide to use
public transport to travel to campus or their workplace. As a
result of the vagaries of our federal system of government,
they might receive a full public transport concession, or even a
discounted ticket, if they are studying in one state, but will have
to pay full fare in another. Despite the best lobbying attempts of
international education stakeholders over many years, state and
territory governments choose not to accept the damage that
such punitive policies inflict upon Australia’s reputation as a study
destination.
Notwithstanding all of the above, there is no doubt that most
overseas students enjoy the opportunity to study in an open,
democratic society such as ours. The fact that Australians are
largely supportive of diversity in its many forms also puts us at a
great advantage over many other nations. However, there is one
particular area of student service delivery that has the potential
to cause our burgeoning international education sector to be
derailed: Australia has not given sufficient priority to adequately
accommodating its growing number of students.
PURPOSE-BUILT STUDENT ACCOMMODATION
ICEF Monitor recently highlighted a Student.com analysis of the
cost of living for students across a range of cities. The analysis
was based on accommodation reservations for 40 or more weeks
by approximately 8000 students. While New York City, Boston,
London and Washington were ranked the most expensive (in US
dollars) for accommodation, Sydney came in the seventh most
costly study destination city in the world. According to ICEF, the
study underscored that “affordability is a major decision factor for
prospective students as cost of living accounts for a significant
proportion of total student spending.”
Savills Real Estate also recently published a global cost tracking
study which suggested that the significant cost differential from
country to country explains in part why destinations such as
Germany and China have earned an increasing share of tuition-
fee-paying international students. In its report, Savills argued that it
anticipates increasing numbers of students will choose value over
traditional academic reputation.
On a positive note, Student.com pointed out that, “across Australia,
the UK and the US, cities with larger supplies of purpose-built student
accommodation tend to be more affordable than cities that are
undersupplied”.
All of this, they suggest, underscores the importance of large-
scale private equity investments that are now helping to expand the
stock of student housing in the most expensive cities. Given the
lack of appetite for many of Australia’s universities (let alone TAFE
and private education providers) to invest in their own on campus
student accommodation, it is apparent that we need to encourage
a diversity of safe, affordable accommodation options if we are to
meet this key student service delivery need.
There is no doubt that Australia’s education institutions have
upped the ante on the priority they are giving to genuine student
service delivery. However, as competitor study destination
countries increasingly focus on this area, we would do well to think
of student services not as an ancillary but as core business. ■
Phil Honeywood is CEO of the International Education Association
of Australia.
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