There are an increasing number of students enrolling in higher education in Australia, in part due to the Australian government’s widening participation agenda, but also the realisation about the transformative impact of higher education (or education generally) on lives of individuals, communities and society as a whole.
Naturally as the number of students increases, so too does the diversity of the students. Diversity manifests in different ways:
Students bring these characteristics to class regardless whether they are domestic or international students. Good teaching practice should create learning environments that is inclusive for all students, regardless of where they are from. Addressing the diversity of learning needs is just good teaching practice…. There has been a lot of coverage in the media recently about how international students tend to take too much resources (time and effort) and at least in one particular piece that appeared in one print media recently, documents the account of one domestic student required to ‘help’ international students, in according to that writer in the form of peer-learning. Peer learning is a legitimate educational and learning approach that has been tried and tested for many years. Prominent researchers have documented and published the benefits of such an approach. However, it certainly is not a way to simply put groups of students together without any structured learning aims and activities. When peer learning is used without any thought it is unlikely to succeed regardless of the students’ backgrounds. One of the things that I have mentioned previously if the need to provide students opportunities to engage in a range of diverse learning experiences and ideas. Classrooms that are rich in diversity provides excellent opportunity for this. With the world of work and research becoming more and more globalised it then becomes even more important to allow students to engage in ideas that have a global impact, and what better way to do this than engaging with diverse ideas that so many of our international students bring with them. Not recognising this will be a lost opportunity. 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 It is impossible to miss the incredible changes happening in workplaces all around the world. A lot of these changes are brought on by new ways doing things, spurred on by technology and an increasingly border less world of work, play and education.
Commentators frequently suggest that many of the university students starting undergraduate studies now, will find themselves working in jobs that does not even exist at the moment. Literature discussing the types of knowledge, skills and attitudes that is needed for future work often refer to 21st century skills. Although it is difficult to explicitly define exactly what constitutes 21st century skills, it is clear that it must include the right attitude to adapt to different ways of doing things, ability to understand and demonstrate diverse ideas, understand our responsibilities as global citizens, effective communication and collaboration skills and ability to negotiate respectfully, apart from many more I am certain! Universities then are faced with an enormous challenge; how to embed the development of these skills, attitudes and knowledge in their courses. Particularly when the vast majority of the university course are still focused on content heavy syllabi. However, the same evolutionary forces that are bringing on these challenges, also offers opportunities for universities to take advantage of to help students develop many of these future ready skills, knowledge and attitudes. Universities, now more than ever before, consist of increasingly large numbers of international students. Universities themselves are also operating in an ever increasingly global, border less world. Internationalising the learning experiences of our students is not only an opportunity, it is imperative that we do, or face ill-preparing students for the future. o edit. |
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December 2019
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Photo used under Creative Commons from Philippe Put