International education has always been treated with significant importance by Australian and other education exporting countries’ universities, and governments. One of the things that COVID-19 has highlighted though is that most governments and institutions have emphasised the economic benefits of international education over anything else. While there is nothing inherently wrong with privatised international education as it provides opportunities for many students from around the world to access high quality education, and develop global perspectives along the way, however it would be very short sighted if we use international education only to fill the gap in funding shortfalls and improve financial positions of universities. International education allows educators to tap into the vast wealth of diverse perspectives that having international student in classrooms provides. Appreciating diversity allows us to recognise the way different ideas and challenges are approached by different people. Engaging in diverse perspectives allows us to recognise our own ideologies positioned within an ocean of differences. These concepts do not only apply to disciplines such as social sciences and humanities, but equally relevant in the sciences and engineering. Having appreciation of different ideologies allows us to tackle challenges in a much more balanced way. Many international students often speak a language other than English, often with noticeable accents, and the way they approach studies are often very different due to their own previous study experiences and expectations. Most international students approach higher education studies with very different set of motivations, likely influenced by family and community expectations. This type of profile sets them as ‘different’ from the mainstream domestic students and frequently treated as if lacking in skills and attitudes for higher education studies. The educational outcomes and research outputs of many of these students tells a different story! International education should focus of embedding diverse perspectives within the curriculum and enabling all students to experience different ideologies and ways of approaching problems. Recognising that every student is different and will bring their own ways of doing things into the classroom mix is important. Even if we have students and graduates who prefer to hold on to specific ideologies, as long as their position is an informed one through experiencing differences. It is very possible to bring diversity into the classroom without having international students, however having students from different parts of the world makes it that much more interesting. A curriculum that enables diverse perspectives makes for an inclusive classroom for all students.
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December 2019
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Photo used under Creative Commons from Philippe Put