In 1997 Australia was a second choice for about two-thirds of students based on proximity, safety, affordability, an easy visa. Now Australia has grown into an incredibly mature market. International offices 20 years ago had three people, now there might be a hundred people sitting in an open plan space.

I don’t believe Australia is a default alternative to the UK and America. I think it’s an alternative proposition. Britain offers a collegiate environment in many universities, where a “town and gown” mentality can still apply in the smaller cities like Bath and Bristol. In Australia there are large urban centres where international education is clustered into one city.

The PIE: Tell me about the evolution of trends as picked up by your research.

My argument to institutions is switch to family purchase strategies

RL: Every year or two something changes. We’ve gone from destination to city, we’ve gone from individual buyers to family buyers in international education. The rite of passage now is to send all your kids to Australia for their education at university rather than sending the brightest kid in the family with all the funds.

My argument to institutions is switch to family purchase strategies. Now we’re getting pre-exposure. You’ve got this high percentage of students from countries and Malaysia and Singapore where two-thirds have been to Australia before they’ve even started studying here. That didn’t happen 20 years ago.

The PIE: What are the new social media spaces?

RL: You can’t just explore one or two avenues; you’ve got to be on the ball for everything that’s happening from every kind of chat. I think the big thing for social media spaces is the importance of pre-departure strategies, which go online before any international student sets off from home.

You have to be engaged with the student six to twelve weeks before they leave home through online. Be tailored, make the student feel part of it, so by the time they’re on the plane they already feel part of that institution.

Make the student feel part of it, so by the time they’re on the plane they already feel part of that institution

The PIE: You recommend checking English language progress the whole way through the course…

RL: Absolutely. We’ve got to maintain the student capabilities. We have to encourage them not to speak in class cohorts. I go to some private schools and you see 12 kids from Taiwan all sitting together. I’ve been to offshore campuses where they say the language in a constructionist English and I always argue that the language of conversation should be English.

The biggest barrier to employment is the way people think about the culture on campus and the staccato use of English, which employers don’t understand. It frustrates them. It’s why written communication skills are low. I believe that if a student is recruited at 6.5, they should have a higher level than that when they graduate.