The International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) has released its 2025 election platform with 18 priorities for the federal government. It calls on elected representatives to endorse a number of key stakeholder engagement principles as well as specific sector policy reform priorities.
The priorities are:
Integrity and Good Governance
As international education is impacted by a number of different portfolios, good governance of our sector is crucial to achieving an effective and coordinated policy framework. To this end, IEAA calls on Government to:
- Review and launch a new National Strategy for International Education
- Engage meaningfully with the National Council for International Education
- Re-establish the Council for International Students in Australia
- Renew investment in the International Education Innovation Fund
- Significantly increase investment in marketing study destination Australia
- Expand the remit of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission to include oversight and planning for international education (if it goes ahead)
- Prioritise a student-centric approach
- Ensure proportionate burdens and consequences for both good and bad behaviour:
Economic Development and Skills Integration
Now, more than ever, Australia is in a global skills race with competitor study destination countries. While the majority of our international students return home, transparent and achievable migration pathways will be crucial to retaining outstanding overseas talent and world class research outputs. To this end, IEAA calls on Government to:
- Ensure international education and international students are in scope for JSA
- Prioritise Higher Degree by Research students
- Promote long-term sustainability and competitiveness of the regions
- Facilitate linkages and understanding with employers
- Support for long term investment decisions
Soft Power Diplomacy and Community Integration
Through its original fee-free scholarships under the post-war Colombo Plan, to its full tuition fee-paying focus in more recent years, Australia continues to provide worldclass education outcomes to young people, particularly from our own Indo-Pacific region. In turn, education program delivery has provided our nation with undeniable soft power diplomatic benefits. Going forward, it is in our national interest that the wider Australian community gains greater insight into the benefits that accrue from having a dynamic and financially sustainable international education sector. To this end, IEAA calls on Government to:
- Better support government and independent schools’ sector engagement
- Internationalise VET
- Support Australian students in learning abroad
- Support overseas students coming to Australia for short-term learning programs
- Maximise the dividends to the Australian community
The Koala congratulates the IEAA on publishing its election platform.
To read the document in full, see here.
