Search Results

In Australian higher education, there is a tension between international students' English language proficiency (ELP) seen as inadequate, thus prompting the need for firm gatekeeping for quality control, and on the other hand, the financial dependence on international student revenues, and therefore, striving to attract international applicants. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the way discursive forces interact in the context of ELP as an admission requirement. This paper analyses ELP admission requirements webpages of Australian universities, using Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis. It finds that the textual and visual data have distinct messages enabled by the linguistic features of the legal discourse and the neoliberal marketing discourse, respectively. Their combination creates a representation of ELP as a requirement for the idealized student lifestyle in Australia. This strengthens the monolingual mindset operating in Australian education by referencing the authority of legislation.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Australia hosts more than 400,000 international school, vocational education and training (VET), higher education and English language students each year. With word of mouth being one of the most important influences on the decision making process for prospective students, the experiences that these international students have living and studying in Australia are important for Australia’s education system. To develop a greater understanding of and ideas for improving the experiences of international students around the issues of interaction, support services and relevant work experience, Australian Education International (AEI) conducted 41 focus groups across Australia in 2011. These focus groups included groups of international school, VET and higher education students, as well as domestic VET and higher education students and international education support staff from a wide range of international education providers. International and domestic students shared their experiences of studying in Australia and talked about ideas for improving interaction with Australian students and enhancing the experience of international students. Some of the voices of the students are captured in the body of this report. The focus groups with international education support staff provided an opportunity to discuss strategies that effectively support international students, and to discuss ideas that can further enhance and improve the experience of international students in Australia. Many of the ideas and experiences that were communicated by international education support staff are also presented in the body of this report.

Excerpts from publication. Show less

This report is the first of its kind to synthesise all available data on the economic contribution of international students to the Australian economy. It focuses on the economic contribution of the Australian export market, Australia’s standing in the international education export market, the characteristics of the domestic education sector and the success rates of international students in attaining Australian residency and citizenship. It found that Australia’s export education industry grew 42 per cent in the three years to 2008, employs 126,000 people and contributes 1per cent of the nation’s gross domestic product. Other findings include: the total impact of the export industry on the economy, once the ‘value-added’ effect of $12.6 billion is added to direct expenditure by overseas students and their families of $14.1 billion, exceeds $26.7 million confirming the education sector as the nation’s third biggest export earner behind coal and iron ore, outperforming travel, services (professional, business and technical), as well as exports of gold, crude petroleum and aluminium; higher education has experienced relatively slow growth over recent years, with enrolments expanding by 7.7 per cent between 2006 and 2008 suggesting that the sector has reached a mature growth phase compared with other sectors of the education market; the English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) and the vocational education and training (VET) sectors experienced an upsurge in growth over the same period, with enrolments increasing by 63.7 and 112.6 per cent, respectively; a prediction that a 5 per cent reduction in overseas student numbers would cause 6300 Australians to lose their jobs as the economy lost more than $600 million in export revenue; Australian education providers also earned $438 million from overseas campuses and consultancy services, bringing total income for the sector to $14.1 billion; and Australia, with less than 1 per cent of the world’s population, enrolled 7.5 per cent of the world’s international students. Show less

More than three million students study outside their home country, primarily at a Western university. A common belief among educators is that international students are insufficiently adjusted to higher education in their host country, both academically and socially. Furthermore, several groups of international students experience considerable amounts of stress while adapting to the culture of the host-institute. Several researchers argue that studies on adaptation of international students should widen their focus to the underlying mechanisms that lead towards this 'misalignment'. In a cross-institutional comparison among 958 students at five business schools in the Netherlands, differences in academic performance between local and international students were identified by focussing on their levels of academic and social integration. Students' academic integration was measured with the Students' Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ), while students' social integration was measured with a newly developed and validated questionnaire. The results indicate that the degree of academic success of international students is multi-faceted. International students with a (mixed) western ethnic background perform well on both academic and social integration, and also attained higher study-performance in comparison to domestic students. In contrast, international students with a non-Western background are less integrated compared to other international students. Nevertheless, they have a similar study-performance. Finally, academic adjustment is the main predictor of study-performance for Dutch, western and mixed-western students. Social adjustment was negatively related to study-performance. The lack of fit for predicting long-term study success of non-western students indicates that their academic and social integration processes are more complex and non-linear.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

The [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis has significantly impacted existing and prospective international students across the globe, influencing how they study, where they can travel to, and how often they can travel between their university and home. To explore these impacts and how students have adapted, QS runs an ongoing coronavirus survey of current and prospective international students. This report explores the survey responses from current international students and prospective international students, from the period of 4 September to 19 October. For this survey intake, 781 current students from 125 countries responded to the survey, while 6,958 prospective students from 173 countries also responded. This October report covers the latest findings from this survey, including: (1) Where current students are studying right now and what that looks like; (2) What measures current students are being asked to take to limit the spread of the coronavirus; (3) How effectively universities are handling the crisis, from the perspectives of both current students and prospective students; and (4) How prospective international students are adapting their application journey.

Excerpts from publication and publisher's website. Show less

In August 2008 the Asia:NZ Foundation commissioned International Student Ministries of New Zealand to commence a nationwide longitudinal study of the experiences of Asia-born New Zealand-trained business graduates. This study ('Tracking study for Asian business graduates from New Zealand') was to commence when students were in the final phase of their course and contemplating their future. It was intended that the study would follow the new graduates through their post-academic transition as they endeavoured to find employment and adjusted to working in New Zealand or elsewhere. These areas were of specific interest, as was examining the role that Asia-born New Zealand-trained business graduates play in developing Asia-NZ business relationships.

This paper covers findings from the first phase of the study related to choices motivating the study of business in New Zealand, experiences of studying and living and expectations of life following course completion. Initially the paper covers background information, situating it in the New Zealand tertiary and business education contexts, and in relation to existing literature on Asian students in New Zealand. A brief outline of the research methods central to the study follows, then a description and examination of preliminary research findings related to choices, experiences and expectations with a specific focus on students' expectations of study and life after study. This also draws on students' retrospective reflections, providing a background for later reports (which will likely examine students' post-graduation transition pathways). A brief final note is made on how emerging questions will be examined in the remainder of the study.

Published abstract. Show less

This paper unpacks the meanings and implications of the mobility of international students in vocational education - an under-researched group in the field of international education. This four-year study found that transnational mobility is regarded as a resourceful vehicle to help international students 'become' the kind of person they want to be. The paper justifies the value of re-conceptualising student mobility as a process of 'becoming'. Mobility as 'becoming' encompasses students' aspirations for educational, social, personal and professional development. Theorising mobility as 'becoming' captures international students' lived realities and has the potential to facilitate the re-imagining of international student mobility with new outlooks. By theorising mobility as 'becoming', this research suggests the importance of drawing on the integrated and transformative nature of Bourdieu's forms of capital in understanding the logics and practice of the social field - international student mobility.

Published abstract. Show less