International education:Challenges and opportunities

Hon. Phil HoneywoodChief Executive Officer, IEAA

IRU Senior Leaders Forum, July 2019

Much to celebrate

• Headline figure 2018: $35.2 billion p.a.• Makes politicians take notice

• Reaching 700,000 international students• On track for projected 1 million by 2025?

• University rankings continue to support our teaching quality reputation

• Relative to other destinations:safe, welcoming, culturally diverse and clean environment

Much to celebrate

• Strong legislative protections supporting international students

• Attractive work rights and post-study work rights (PSWR) opportunities

• Record Government and Institution expenditure on study abroad

• Enhanced research collaboration between China/India diaspora

Increasing challenges

• Lack of market diversification

• Increased competition from traditional/non-traditional competitors

• Rising tensions with China and slowing Chinese economy

• Concerns re: quality of growth in some other key markets

Increasing challenges

• Enrolment growth too concentrated on:• Small range of courses

• Small number of major cities, and

• Onshore, rather than offshored delivery (e.g. TNE)

• School sector not achieving its potential pipeline benefits

• Study abroad mostly accessed by wealthy families

• National security filters on PhD candidates offshore

InternationalRecruitment

7

The global contextAustralia’s positioning

8

Other OECD countries26%

Non-OECDcountries30%

United States19%

Australia7%

United Kingdom9%

Approximately 5 million tertiarystudents studyabroad

Education at a Glance 2018 (OECD)

Australia is the

in the world.

third mostpopulareducationdestination Germany

5%

France5%

Australia’s global positioning

Total enrolmentsYTD March 2019

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Source: Department of Education and Training (YTD March 2019)

NATIONALITY NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS NT ACT TOTAL % GROWTH

China 73,288 66,699 23,303 11,270 6,036 3,772 264 8,330 192,962 5.5%

India 23,617 44,525 11,783 5,400 6,101 1,413 330 1,070 94,239 39%

Nepal 30,997 7,967 4,151 1,401 1,203 689 437 340 47,185 46%

Vietnam 7,535 9,441 1,989 1,525 1,097 405 118 299 22,409 3%

Brazil 11,193 2,511 6,842 402 1,208 158 36 47 22,397 4%

Malaysia 5,076 10,622 2,006 1,244 2,319 546 28 318 22,159 -5%

South Korea 8,522 3,231 4,394 744 740 200 27 283 18,141 -3%

Colombia 5,284 5,818 3,755 242 823 60 24 83 16,089 20.5%

Indonesia 7,772 5,338 829 240 827 111 98 255 15,470 9.5%

Thailand 8,706 4,315 1,572 142 395 52 22 90 15,294 -8%

Other 59,900 51,517 32,993 7,782 14,709 2,608 874 2,997 173,380 6%

TOTAL 241,890 211,984 93,617 30,392 35,458 10,014 2,258 14,112 639,725 11%

NATIONALITY NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS NT ACT TOTAL % GROWTH

China 21,878 19,474 7,880 3,411 1,806 1,194 74 2,000 57,717 1.5%

India 6,615 13,459 3,679 2,014 2,110 534 94 287 28,792 50%

Nepal 7,633 2,499 1,191 500 432 254 85 121 12,715 27.5%

Brazil 3,542 902 2,323 172 479 105 16 15 7,554 -5.5%

Vietnam 2,358 2,997 675 510 329 174 35 74 7,152 13%

Malaysia 1,305 3,075 499 363 734 117 5 82 6,180 -9.5%

Colombia 1,956 2,227 1,461 99 360 24 11 37 6,175 16.5%

South Korea 2,435 1,150 1,486 284 267 91 7 92 5,812 -3%

United States 2,215 711 1,303 103 271 39 5 39 4,686 -0.3%

Thailand 2,103 1,390 549 51 136 17 9 30 4,285 -6%

Other 19,492 17,933 10,812 2,677 5,344 781 269 968 58,276 8%

TOTAL 71,532 65,817 31,858 10,184 12,268 3,330 610 3,745 199,344 9.6%

Total commencementsYTD March 2019

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Source: Department of Education and Training (YTD March 2019)

Sector by sectorChina vs other nationalities

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Source: Department of Education and Training (YTD enrolments, December 2018)

Higher education VET ELICOS Non-award SchoolsChina 152712 22341 47762 19419 13662Other nationalities 246,366 221,946 108,607 30445 13139

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

9%

30%

38%

38% 38%

51%

The diversity challenge / opportunity

• Austrade promotes Africa, Home Affairs does not

• LATAM students want ELICOS and hospitality diplomas,but return home for higher education

• Koreans, Singaporeans now look to China

• Vietnamese look to Japan

• Will we become just another postgrad study destination?

• Are we maximising TNE opportunities?

• Do we ramp up offshore pipeline school partnerships?

Policy andRegulation

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Regulation

• Recently introduced new National Code, ELICOS standards• Working on National Standards for Foundation Programs

• Peter Noonan AQF review looking at micro-credentials

• Peter Coaldrake Provider Category Review:• Potential for teaching only universities?

• Home Affairs working group on transferring academic progress risk

Regulation

• DE transparency on agent visa approval performance and unique agent identifier

• DE initiative re: onshore visa refusals risk rating

• Still require stricter poaching regulations!

Regional spotlightTop 10 regions for international students

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Source: Department of Education and Training (YTD December 2018)

1. Hobart (TAS)2. Darwin (NT)3. Cairns (QLD)4. Toowoomba (QLD)5. Townsville (QLD)6. Richmond - Tweed (NSW)7. New England and North West (NSW)8. Launceston and North East (TAS)9. Ballarat (VIC)10. Geelong (VIC)

Other locations

9,391 (35%)2,625 (10%)2,475 (10%)2,038 (8%)1,860 (7%)1,554 (6%)1,427 (5%)1,389 (5%)1,119 (4%)

323 (1%)2,458 (9%)

Top 10 regions for international enrolmentsJust over 3% of onshore international students chose to study at a regional institution in 2018.

Growing the regions

• Rapid growth in capital cities has led to infrastructure constraints (i.e. Melbourne, Sydney)

• Greater push to encourage students into the regions

• National Council discussion paper: Growing international education in regional Australia

• Destination Australia population policy released in March 2019:

• Extends post-study work rights (PSW) from 2 to 3 years for regional students

• More than 1000 x AU$15,000 p.a. regional scholarships for domestic/international students

• Greater support for study clusters

• Retains points for state/regional sponsored migration

• More coordinated approach to marketing regional attributes.

International education in regional Australia

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Governance framework

• Established in 2016, in response to an external review of the sector (Chaney Report)

• The first of its type in the world, it comprises:

• 6 Federal Ministers

• 11 non-ministerial members – including the President of CISA

• Facilitates better coordination between various Government departmentsand encourages a collaborative response to important issues:

• Student visa system, teaching and learning standards, safe affordable accommodation, employability etc.

• Most State Governments now also have advisory councils.

National Council for International Education

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Governance framework

• The Council has responsibility for implementing Australia’s first National Strategy for International Education

• Structured around the three pillars:

• Strengthening the fundamentals

• Making transformative connections

• Competing globally

• Includes funding of AUD12 million over four years through its ‘Enabling Growth and Innovation (EGI)’ grants program.

National Strategy for International Education 2025

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Council prioritiesPriorities for 2019 (and beyond)

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• Delivering the best possible student experience

• A nationally coordinated approach to marketing and branding

• Building in-country engagement and activities

• Communicating the benefits of international education.

Expert membersKey priorities for 2019

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• Engagement with regional Australia

• Addressing workplace exploitation

• Advancing engagement with Latin America

• New approaches to engagement with key existing partners (China, India)

• Increasing engagement with the schools, English language and vocational education and training sectors.

Working groups

In August 2018, provided expert members with a number of proposals to better support international students in:

• Workplace exploitation

• Student accommodation

• Pre-departure information

• Employability

• Fostering linkages betweenint’l students & local communities.

• Developed a framework to better facilitate co-operation between states and territories and between providers offshore.

• This will now be taken forward through Austrade’s International Education Marketing Forum.

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Student services Marketing & collaboration

Country specific working groups

• To focus on market opportunities to expand and diversify education engagement with China.

• Currently preparing final report for Expert Members outlining new opportunities for future engagement and collaboration.

• To consult with the Australian education sector on implementing the outcomes of the India Economic Strategy (IES).

• To identify additional opportunities to further strengthen Australia’s engagement with India in education, training and research.

• To develop strategies to progress opportunities and outcomes outlined above.

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China India

StudentRetention

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The curriculum/employability challenge

• Business/commerce dominate, particularly for Chinese students

• Employers increasingly want graduates who can stimulate ideas and generate creative solutions

• Future work opportunities will increasingly be in start-ups, SMEs, self-generated enterprises and projects

• China now embracing next generation industries from entertainment and leisure, to healthcare and smart technologies

• Evolved from Level 1-type courses based around a core discipline, to Level 2 postgrad

• India, Nepal, Pakistan: migration pull factor

Barriers to international student employability

Australia’s post-study work rights Top 5 markets: PSWR visa grant holders

01

-

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18

India China Nepal Pakistan Vietnam

Australia’s post-study work rights Growth in postgraduate enrolments following PSWR

0160.1% 55.8% 54.1% 52.9% 50.9% 48.8%

39.9% 44.2% 45.9%47.1%

49.1%51.2%

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Undergraduate Postgraduate

Comparison of international work rightsInternational student work rights in key markets

ATTRACTION RANKING

IN-STUDY WORK

POST-STUDY WORK(Years)

MINIMUM STUDY(Years)

BACHELOR MASTERS(Coursework)

PhD

1. New Zealand Yes 1–3 1 3 3 3

2. Canada Yes 3 2 3 3 3

3. Australia Yes 2–4 2 2 2 4

4. Germany Yes 1.5 n/a 1.5 1.5 1.5

5. United States Yes 1* 1 1 1 1

6. Netherlands Yes 1 1 1 1 1

7. Ireland Yes 0.5–2 2 0.5–1 2 2

8. Sweden Yes 0.5 1 0.5 0.5 0.5

9. United Kingdom Yes 0.3–1 1 0.3 0.3–0.5 1

* +2 years for STEM graduates

Comprehensive student service delivery

• Correct information provided pre-departure

• Integration initiatives with domestic students

• Opportunities for offshore learning abroad

• Mental health, legal advice, counselling services

• Safe, affordable purpose-built student accommodation

• Industry and wider community engagement

• Research scholarship options

#ieaaworldatwork

IDP student perceptions 2018There was little change in IDP student perceptions in 2018 reflecting the general landscape

Thank you