Voices

We seem to put ourselves through bureaucratic systems, meetings, all resulting in an end to academic innovation. I sit on committees, and I go in and say – rubbish! It's got to be changed! I'm never popular for it but we have to think like the student who's demanding this.

We are unique because our public policy is a broad public policy issue. We have chosen to look at what are those larger issues that need higher education’s voice.

The thought is that with an academic degree and an international network you can stand stronger in your fight for justice and for human rights.

We are lobbying NZQA and the Ministry of Education for recognition as a separate sort of entity. We believe we have the rights to be heard as another group of institutions involved in international education

Agents have a particular role to play in our industry, but at the same time it is obviously because schools have not invested in the technology of how to reach the market directly. Why should our industry be any different to any other?

When we sent the first groups internationally years ago, we experienced a lack of materials, teachers, everything; now we have got plenty of language schools. There is no need to go for them just to go to improve their English anymore

The problem is making new learning technology digestible, scalable and usable. If you just throw a piece of technology into a school or into a section in a university, it is going to have limited effect.

Universities have a role to play in elevating the voice of students. At the moment there’s a lot of anger and frustration, but that could be channeled into something that makes a real, positive difference.

Instead of having people think about volunteer travel as a thing where you have rich people going to help poor people, it is rather an idea of people travelling anywhere in the world to make a positive difference.

The vision is still to be that holistic international student voice and to be able to reach out to as many grassroots networks around Australia as possible

People talk about education as something that brings equality to the social classes but I always saw it as the opposite – something that brings inequality to people.

I don't feel like it is an uphill battle. There are over 20 million students who are enrolled in higher education in the US, so I see those numbers as a real opportunity for us to make a difference in terms of broadening participation in study abroad

Study abroad can itself play into privileges. There is a social justice question that comes with that - who has access? So my vision is: why not bring the intercultural learning out on campus at the same time?

Did you know you can use the Bluetooth in all of your students phones to check whether they have checked into their residence?

Rankings are not the ultimate goal. The goal is to enhance competitiveness of the Russian universities around the globe, to improve the Russian educational system and to develop universities in Russia.