Foreign students have a valuable contribution to make - University Wor...
1 of 4
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20151020202...
Issue 00390
20 November 2015
Register to receive our free newsletter by email each week
SEARCH
Advanced Search
Global Edition / News / World Round-up / Features / Commentary / World Blogs / Student View / Academic Freedom
Special Reports
Special Editions
Africa Edition / Asia Hub / Letters / Archives / HE Events Diary / About Us / Contact Us
AUSTRALIA
Foreign students have a valuable
contribution to make
Ly Tran and Cate Gribble 23 October 2015 Issue No:387
Like
64
Tweet
Join us on
49
This Week
26
SPECIAL REPORT
Cross-border student mobility is among the most prominent
phenomena of tertiary education over the past 20 years. There
are currently 543, 123 international students enrolled in Australia.
Follow us on
News Feeds
The commentary by Bob Kinnaird depicts international students as
exploited workers, desperate permanent residency hunters and in
competition with local people in what he refers to as "the
lower-end of the job market".
Global Edition
Africa Edition
Disclaimer
All reader responses
posted on this site are
those of the reader
ONLY and NOT those of
University World News
or Higher Education
Web Publishing, their
associated trademarks,
websites and services.
University World News
or Higher Education
Web Publishing does
not necessarily
endorse, support,
sanction, encourage,
verify or agree with any
comments, opinions or
statements or other
content provided by
readers.
To assume that international students are taking the jobs of locals
is narrow and ignores the role of international education in job
creation. International students contribute enormously to the
Australian economy, generating around A$18 billion (US$13
billion) annually. Their economic contribution is not limited to
tuition fees. It includes ancillary services such as accommodation,
hospitality and increased travel and tourism.
UNESCO report
says that pressing
problems have led
to a shift in global
science
WORLD BLOG
International students in higher education are responsible for
attracting an additional 160,000 overseas tourists. Rather than
taking away jobs, international education and international
student-related activities support more than 100,000 Australian
jobs.
Beyond economic benefits
More critically, the benefits in terms of creating transnational
connections and global links that are crucial to Australian
businesses, national prosperity and national growth are potentially
huge.
The benefits of international education to Australia go beyond the
economic. The presence of international students on campus and
in the workplace offer enormous opportunities in terms of
developing the intercultural capability and outlook of domestic
students and the local workforce.
The current
Syrian refugee
crisis calls for
more substantive
answers
COMMENTARY
It is simplistic to suggest that by removing work rights for
international students, young Australians, especially the
low-skilled workers Kinnaird is most concerned about, will face
less labour market competition and have better job prospects.
This perspective ignores our current reality where greater national
interconnections, demands of international engagement and
regionalisation and increased labour mobility between national
economies are the key features of the globalised world.
Such a one-sided view is also at the root of the segregation
between international and domestic students and between
international students and local communities. In order to
capitalise on the myriad of benefits associated with international
education, breaking down these stereotypes and dispelling
incorrect assumptions is imperative.
Is Japan
overlooking the
importance of
strengthening
education ties in
Asia?
20/11/2015 12:10 PM
Foreign students have a valuable contribution to make - University Wor...
2 of 4
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20151020202...
Harnessing the benefits
The real challenge for institutions, employers and the wider
Australian community is how to recognise and harness the
potential benefits associated with international education.
A great deal has been done by various researchers, institutions
and organisations like the International Education Association of
Australia, or IEAA, and the Office for Teaching and Learning, or
OLT, to develop strategies aimed at integrating the potential
cultural and intellectual resources that international students bring
into Australian classrooms, workplaces and communities and
optimising the learning for all.
However, more needs to be done to translate the rhetoric of
benefits into practice and build a truly educationally, culturally and
ethically productive environment on campus, in the workplace and
the wider community.
With Myanmar
elections over, a
focus on higher
education reform
is needed
Top stories
from last
week’s
edition
One of Kinnaird’s main concerns surrounds the exploitation of
international students in the workplace. He contends that
international students are often exploited by employers from the
same ethnic background. This can be an issue, but it is certainly
not limited to employers from the same ethnic background.
Instead our research shows disturbing levels of racism by white
Anglo-Saxon Australian employers, particularly in sectors such as
health and engineering.
It is worth noting that our separate studies also show that,
despite the disadvantages facing them, many international
students in both the higher education and vocational education
and training sectors are valued as hard-working and responsible
employees who are capable of negotiating complex situations in
the workplace.
IRELAND
Why Irish eyes are
smiling in Horizon
2020
GLOBAL
Global Innovation
Exchange: the
first Chinese
university outpost
in the US
Our research has found that in many cases employers’ reluctance
to provide work placements for international students has been
reduced due to the growing recognition of the valuable
contributions international students make to their organisations.
Investigating
international
student success
SOUTH AFRICA
The flawed
ideology of free
higher education
UNITED KINGDOM
Universities face
biggest shake-up
for decades
To ensure Australian employers benefit from international
students’ skills, knowledge and transnational links, and to prevent
international student exploitation, institutions and involved parties
must work collaboratively to educate international students on
their work rights and enhance their work readiness.
FINLAND
Ministers pave
way for increased
education exports
GLOBAL
The IEAA’s recent employability symposium and employability
guides are an important first step. However, more can be done.
Widening access
The expanding middle class in many Asian countries is driving
demand for tertiary education which cannot be met locally.
Australian institutions (both onshore and offshore) are filling an
important gap and providing tertiary education opportunities to
many students who would otherwise miss out due to limited
capacity in their home country. Kinnaird’s argument that Australia
should target only "high-yield/high fee courses" and rich students
is unjust. This raises the issue of equitable access to international
education.
Ensuring more
minority students
in the US get the
opportunity to
study abroad
FEATURES
Private HE funders
winning over
doubters, says
report
GLOBAL
Six key elements
of an
entrepreneurial
university
SAUDI ARABIA
Merger prompts
fears for future of
higher education
NETHERLANDS
Instead our research shows that international students from
lower-income families turn to international education as a means
to transform their economic status and professional prospects.
They accumulate loans from their relatives and local communities
and take their study abroad seriously in order to ensure good
return on their investment.
Kinnaird’s stereotype that poor overseas students "have to work
40 hours or more a fortnight just to stay alive" and his associated
implication that rich overseas students are not caught up in this
circle and are thus more deserving of the opportunity and access
to overseas study is problematic.
Entrepreneurship
education is now
in all universities
UNITED STATES
Who came out on
top in the battle
for European
Research Council
funding?
What a mass
exodus means for
scholarly
publishing
As we have indicated, more work does need to be done to both
educate international students about their work rights and
prosecute employers found to be engaging in exploitative
practices.
20/11/2015 12:10 PM
Foreign students have a valuable contribution to make - University Wor...
3 of 4
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20151020202...
However, it is important to remember that most domestic and
international students in Australia work part time. In addition to
providing an income source, part-time work offers international
students important exposure to the Australian labour market and
the opportunity to hone their professional, social and
communication skills and develop local networks.
International students are a heterogeneous group. Depicting all
international students as desperate permanent residency hunters,
as in Kinnaird’s article, is incorrect and dangerous. In a previous
article for University World News, we pointed out that while
securing permanent residency can be a purpose for studying in
Australia, it is not always the primary nor the sole motivation for
international students.
Often students hope to gain some local work experience to
complement their Australian degree in order to position
themselves well in the home country or international labour
market. Some see themselves living between two nations and
view citizenship as flexible. Others are committed to returning
permanently and contributing to their home country’s
development.
Research also indicates that between a half and two-thirds of
international students returned home after graduation in 2011-12
and the rest remained in Australia on a temporary visa, further
study visa, tourist visa or permanent residency visa.
The changing nature of the labour market means that a degree is
no longer enough to guarantee graduate employment. Heightened
competition for entry level positions, far less certainty surrounding
employment prospects and the growing need to ‘stand out’ in a
crowded graduate labour market has resulted in international
students placing growing emphasis on acquiring post-study work
experience.
The experience of the UK highlights that removing work rights
would have a detrimental effect on the international education
sector.
Rather than viewing international students as taking jobs from
young Australians or “feeding the growth in Australia of a vast
under-class of temporary visa holders desperate for work and ripe
for exploitation”, the benefits of international education, including
the enormous untapped potential, must be showcased to the
wider Australian community.
For the majority of international students the opportunity to study
and work in Australia is something they prize highly. International
students want to contribute. Valuing international students and
identifying strategies to encourage their participation in all aspects
of Australian society stands to benefit all concerned.
Ly Tran is a senior lecturer at the school of education, Deakin
University, Australia, and an Australian Research Council DECRA –
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award – fellow. She has been
awarded two grants on the teaching and learning for international
students by the Australian Research Council. She is a member of
a project entitled ‘New Colombo Plan: Australians as international
students in Asia’ with colleagues from Deakin University and the
University of Adelaide. Tran’s research and publications can be
found in this profile.
Cate Gribble is a senior research fellow in the faculty of arts and
education at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. Her
current research focuses on international student mobility,
migration and employability. In 2015 Gribble was awarded the
inaugural World Association for Cooperative Education, or WACE,
research award to investigate international students’ experiences
of work integrated learning in Australia and Canada. Gribble’s
research and publications can be found in this profile.
Related Links
AUSTRALIA
Foreign students exploited as temporary workers
20/11/2015 12:10 PM
Foreign students have a valuable contribution to make - University Wor...
4 of 4
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20151020202...
Receive UWN's free weekly e-newsletters
Email address
*
First name
*
Last name
*
Post code / Zip code
*
Country
*
Organisation / institution
*
Job title
Please send me UWN’s
*
Global Edition
Africa Edition
Both
I receive my email on my mobile phone
I have read the Terms & Conditions *
Advertising / Sponsorship / Terms and Conditions / Contact our advertising team
ISSN 1756-297X
Copyright University World News 2007-2014
20/11/2015 12:10 PM