International education is a success story in Australia at the moment with overall enrolments up 12% to June this year, but peak bodies openly discussed the need to ensure that “good growth” is achieved at the AIEC conference in Brisbane last week, as current industry bugbears around Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP) and the Tuition Protection Service (TPS) were laid bare.
“We need to ensure that we achieve ‘good’ growth, and better define what our success factors are,” counselled English Australia’s Sue Blundell during a panel debate involving all the peak bodies.
“As long as it’s all about numbers you’re bound to fail.”
Imperatives around student assimilation, employability and long-term English language ability were discussed, as were policy changes, given the current ESOS discussion paper inviting stakeholder comment.
SVP, enabling students of any nationality to benefit from swift and easy visa procedures if applying to a university or affiliated pathway provider, is clearly not a panacea to sustainable industry growth.
Commenting on how she thinks policy should be shaped, Blundell said: “We need to give choice back to the students about the pathways they use,” explaining that one of Australia’s strengths was its wide funnel into the Australian education system via schools, VET, Elicos or pathway programmes, which SVP has narrowed.
A problem around course-hopping was also identified by panellists, with some students switching from their SVP-affiliated programme to another entirely different programme (often in the vocational sector).
The aim of impending ESOS reform is to ensure better, more workable, regulation. Blundell pointed out that current TPS rules mean that only 50% of course fees are charged upfront to international students which can cause problems for the provider, especially relating to scholarship students and how their fees are handled by the sponsoring body.
This rule is likely to be modified in new reform. The government is also assessing rules relating to when a student can swap courses, with clearer written rules around cancellation and refund policy from each institution likely to override a blanket six-month ban on “course-hopping” by international students.
Clearer written rules around cancellation and refund policy from each institution are likely to override a blanket six-month ban on “course-hopping”
Education Minister, Christopher Pyne, speaking via video-link, confirmed that the sector is “more valuable than gold” as it overtakes the metal to become the country’s third largest export.
Speaking on behalf of Pyne, Senator Bridget McKenzie announced that a consultation draft will be released in the “near future” that “will guide a coordinated effort and vision for Australia to grow as a world leader in international education into the future.”
McKenzie gave little away as to what exactly the strategy will involve but confirmed two roundtable sessions will be convened annually bringing together government and peak bodies, including IEAA, Universities Australia and other business leaders and community leaders.
“These are baby steps, but we’ve had nothing else until now,” commented Phil Honeywood, CEO of IEAA . “We’ll see how it goes.”
Reform of the ESOS framework is also likely to see deregulation where there is currently duplication of requirements, more flexibility in online and distance learning, and moves to make SVP more inclusive of all providers.
Presenting the ESOS discussion paper, Adam Luckhurst from the Australian department of education assured delegates that “we’re not trying to fix something that isn’t broken, just make it better”.
“We need to make the ESOS code more contemporary,” he added.
Speaking on the peak body panel, Thomson Ch’ng, representing student body CISA, also called for more responsive welfare and graduate services, underlining that international students know they are a “cash cow”.
An earlier panel debate with students also confirmed that more support in graduate employment services was keenly required – especially since many employers in Australia did not seem to be aware of the new Post-Study Work rights (PSW) which are available.
