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Australian universities’, and indeed most higher education institutions in other countries with well-developed higher education sector, dependence on income from international students continues to increase, and even with some re-adjustments in this ‘market’, this trend is unlikely to change in any significant way. Even though I am uncomfortable in using such language, one would argue that Australian higher education institutions are reaping the benefits of investments in higher education over a number of years.
This trend will continue due to the reduction in higher education funding from governments, and as a result for universities to revamp their international marketing campaigns to attract fee paying international students. Competition between universities in Australia, and internationally, is also at an all-time high, significantly due to the various surveys and ratings that pitch universities against each other, not just in teaching and research outputs as well. So universities are trying to provide ‘the most bang for their buck’. Another aspect that is fueling the international student trend is the ability for more and more families around the world to be able to afford international education for their children. Yes there are still many families of international students who struggle, and sacrifice to provide a world class education for their children, even the thought of this endeavor would not have been possible if not for their own aspirations and recognition of the value of international education. At the same time, more and more effort and resource is being put towards the widening participation from domestic students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and rightly so! As educators, are we ready to provide the rich learning experiences to the increasingly diverse cohort of students in our classrooms, both online and offline? I would argue that the vast majority of educators are not prepared, and more dangerously, are not willing to adjust their teaching and learning practices… ‘This is how we’ve done things for a long time’…. Just perusing the media, certainly in Australia, you can see a lot of myths about international students, and the problem according to many educators rests with the international students, when in fact most educators have not considered the learning needs and approaches of different students. This unsurprisingly leads to a number of issues. Understanding the learning approaches of students goes beyond learning to pronounce their names correctly, it a lot more than that. International education has become big business in Australia. Hardly surprising that many people from all over the world wish to come and experience Australian education. Australia has had a long history of good quality education and, particularly for higher education, can be considered a very mature and robust education eco-system.
Over a number of years, the lifestyle, economic conditions, health services among others, and obviously the quality of Australian higher education institutions, has been attracting quality researchers and educators into the Australian higher education institutions. For a lot of International students who come to Australia to study, it gives them an opportunity to experience a well-developed, and internationally regarded education system. For some international students studying in Australia it may be the only opportunity to access quality higher education. (Ok, maybe not just Australia, but other developed education exporters.) So the point is that international education, weather in Australia or elsewhere, provides some students with the only opportunity to gain higher education qualifications. So if we leave the huge financial gains for Australia, and Australian education institutions in particular, international education gives more students, from more parts of the world, to get quality education. As an educator, I wish we did not have to charge students, international or not, any fees, but as I mentioned previously the world has moved on, so now as an educator it becomes absolutely imperative to ensure we are providing the best possible classroom and learning experience for all our students. It is worth noting that there is a certain degree of disagreement in what actually is internationalisation.
The panel discussion hosted by University of Melbourne's Centre for the Study of Higher Education on Wednesday 7th August generated some very interesting and informative discussions around internationalisation. Certainly having students from different countries, with diverse language and values, etc, provides educators with enormous opportunities to embed internationalisation perspectives into the learning activities, however, I believe that it is also possible to embed internationalisation perspectives and give students opportunities to engage in broader international ideas and values. One of the things that the discussions kept rolling back on is the financial and economic benefits that come from having international students in the Australian higher education. In an ideal world education would be free, I believe it should be free for everyone, however, it probably is no point having that discussion as the world has moved on, but regardless of our personal position on this, as educators we have a duty to provide the best learning experience we can. And more importantly to ensure that each and every student gets the best support they need to succeed. (Some might call this, personalising the learning experience, or individual learning paths, etc.) My personal belief is that commercialisation interests and politics of international education should be left outside the classroom. If you missed the webinar, the recording is now available: melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/events/public-policy/past |
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December 2019
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Photo used under Creative Commons from Philippe Put