The Australian Universities Accord Interim Report released here, looks toward a sustainable and globally connected international education sector.
What, however is the role for learning abroad?
It’s a complex ecosystem:
- Students and benefactors fund travel.
- Universities invest in staff, infrastructure and student grants.
- Government delivers scholarships, funding and loans (OS-HELP).
- Industry fund and support students through scholarships and work integrated learning.
- Associations, Accreditation bodies and NGO’s advocate for global experiences within the curriculum and to elevate employment skills.
These stakeholders clearly all have skin in the game; co-designing the strategic intent of learning abroad.
And it is working.
A peak of 58,058 learning abroad experiences in 2019 saw an undergraduate participation rate of 23% placing Australia in an enviable position with colleagues in the US (16%) and UK (7%) (TKN 3/7/23)
The opportunity
The interim accord report considers policy areas, “…ensuring that international education supports broader Australian foreign policy objectives, for example, strengthening relationships with India and the Pacific.” (pg. 83)
Learning abroad is not a mutually exclusive proposition for students OR national interest – it’s a win-win. It is a rich kaleidoscope of opportunity for shared capability uplift. The focus on student experience has rightly underpinned success to this point, however a maturing synergy between learning abroad, nation building priorities and regional engagement can, and should be pursued.
The final review will consider “… new opportunities to increase the scope and mobility of Australian scholarships and programs” (pg. 84). Now is the time to get on board.
What can this look like?
- Prioritised exchange opportunities with key institutional and regional partners, aligned with institutional strategy.
- Building mobility experiences in scope of national priorities and with industry partners.
- Leveraging global partnerships to create internship and research experiences.
- Embedding learning abroad within start-up and entrepreneur communities.
- Working with international alumni communities to establish mentor programs.
- Linking programs to Free Trade Agreements (FTA’s), economic partnerships and people to people diplomacy initiatives across the Arts, Science and Sport.
- Engaging global host communities and institutions in program design and delivery.
- Consulting professional and accreditation bodies to align programs with national workforce capabilities.
- Reframing the way learning abroad outcomes are evaluated and reported – beyond just the student experience.
- Creating inter-disciplinary experiences that replicate the labour market.
This rebalancing of learning abroad will amplify its contribution to the national agenda, raise its profile and complement other international priorities.
Just visualise the latent asset and soft power value of those 58,000 ambassadors:
- Time spent overseas by the cohort in one year, conservatively, delivers 3,300 ‘collective’ years of in-country time.
- They represent an A380 full of students, departing 3 times every week.
- Assembled they fill Optus Stadium in Perth.
- As (approx.) the student population of RMIT, it would be an empty campus!
… imagine what the sector might achieve with and through that student cohort.
These can be powerful outcomes for regional communities, national interest and global development can be unleashed by harnessing the intellectual capability and knowledge generated within these experiences.
Have your say
Consultation on the Accord interim report is invited and is open. To input you can help change the future face of learning abroad with a submission here.
Submissions responding to the interim report close 1 September 2023.
