Draft National Strategy for International Education
Submission from the South Australian Government
May 2015
General comments:
The South Australian Government recognises that international education is a shared
responsibility by business, education providers and governments – providing a good quality
return on international students’ investments through a high-quality education and a rich living
experience in Australia. As a State, education, training and research are central to our broader
international engagement and trade activities and play an important role in leveraging future
growth opportunities.
Our communities share this responsibility through the support they provide and in recognising
the important role international students’ play by contributing to the rich culture of our
communities. Individuals, business owners, service groups and volunteer organisations all play
a part in providing a welcoming environment and supporting international students as they seek
that ‘Australian’ experience in the community, their schools and universities and in the
workplace. We believe this is also one of the fundamental aspects of our international education
system; one that is critical to its success.
In providing a South Australian Government submission to the consultation on the draft national
strategy, comments are provided in response to the following questions:
Does the vision statement in the draft strategy represent Australia’s aspirations
for international education?
The South Australian Government believes that the Vision Statement broadly represents and
acknowledges critical aspects of international education and its impact on our economy,
community and reputation internationally.
Are any significant goals for international education not adequately covered?
In general terms the six goals articulated in the draft strategy provide a broad range of directions
for current and future activities to support the sustainable growth of Australia’s international
education industry.
Pillar 1: Getting the fundamentals right
The South Australian Government is pleased that excellence and quality are identified as the
fundamental foundation of our international education and research systems. By focusing on
these, we will be positioned to compete for the world’s top students and researchers.
Similarly investing in strong education and research partnerships is acknowledged as being
critical in order to broaden engagement and increase Australia’s profile and reputation.
An enhanced international profile will position all Australian institutions and students to take
advantage of new research collaborations and opportunities for students, researchers,
academics and professional mobility.
Strategic Action 1.2 – Investing in world-class research and research infrastructure
Strategic Action 2.2 – Investing in high-quality international research collaborations
National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Scheme (NCRIS):
As articulated in the Draft Strategy, research is the cornerstone of Australia’s higher education
reputation, and supports the attraction of international students. Part of ensuring that research
reputation and quality is maintained is through providing researchers with nationally significant
infrastructure in strategic priority areas for the nation.
NCRIS is one such program which is supplemented through co-investment by local institutions
and industry and has the support of the South Australia Government and Chief Scientist.
However in the context of the Draft Strategy an ongoing commitment from the Commonwealth is
required. With the findings of the Research Infrastructure Review and the future of NCRIS not
yet known, the State Government is calling on the Commonwealth to endorse a long-term
financial commitment to national significant research infrastructure.
Funding for international engagement:
Australia does not currently have a dedicated international science collaboration fund, though
there are two specific country funds - the Australia-China Science and Research Fund and the
Australian-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF).
In the 2014-15 Federal budget an additional $10 million over four years was added to the former
fund. In September 2014, during a visit to India, the Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced an
extension of the program and the Federal Government has committed an additional $20 million
to the AISRF over four years from the 2015-16 financial year.
While the South Australian government is supportive of these Funds, many international
research collaborations fall outside these two spheres. The South Australian Government
through the Premier’s Research and Industry Fund commits funds annually to a range of
partnerships with well recognised international partners including from the US, UK and Europe.
As the Draft Strategy points out, these are the countries where most of our current research
partnerships are occurring and where much of the innovation and new products originate.
Investment in people, in particular the research training scheme:
South Australian experience has shown that attracting and nurturing world leading researchers
not only builds the State’s research capabilities but also leads to the growth of Centre’s of
Excellence and other economic benefits.
As demonstrated in the “Health of Australian Science Report (2012)” Australia has an ageing
science workforce which is likely to create a shortfall in the number of experienced researchers
required to undertake world-class research and support industry innovation. Research training is
required to mitigate this demographic change.
However as of 1 January 2016, subject to the passage of appropriate legislation, higher
education providers will be able to charge for students undertaking Higher Degrees by research.
This will lead to a reduction in Commonwealth funding to higher education providers through the
Research Training Scheme by 10 percent. As articulated in the Draft Strategy, research is the
cornerstone of Australia’s higher education reputation, and the attraction of international
students. Part of ensuring that this research reputation is maintained is to ensure that there is a
supply of locally trained researchers to replace those who will be retiring in the near future.
International and local evidence already indicates that fewer people are choosing to take up
STEM careers, and increasing the costs of Higher Degrees by research is not going to improve
this situation.
Strategic Action 1.4 – Providing quality assurance while reducing red tape.
While the proposal to provide quality assurance while reducing red tape is commended, we are
concerned that the funding cuts to TEQSA from 2014/15 will impact negatively on TEQSA’s
ability to undertake its regulatory work and meet its legislated obligations.
In the international education space, the role of TEQSA is to protect Brand Australia; this means
ensuring that all regulatory and compliance processes can be undertaken in a timely and
efficient manner, and includes the resource-intensive requirements when processing any new
provider applications.
Some concerns have already been expressed regarding TEQSA’s ability to adequately monitor
the quality and behavior of providers in the sector; a recent example being the over-reliance on
education agents by universities which has generated significant media attention. While South
Australia’s three public universities have rigorous entry requirements for all students, the
reported activities of other providers could potentially undermine the reputation of Australia’s
universities and qualifications.
Pillar 2: Reaching out to the world
The South Australian Government recognises the importance of government-to-government
engagement, particularly as it aims to build confidence in the quality of Australia’s education and
research.
Through South Australia’s India Engagement Strategy, China Engagement Strategy, and South
East Asia Engagement Strategy, we aim to redefine and grow our relationship and position our
State as a partner in these key regions. Each of these strategies includes goals for closer
engagement in order to build resilient, mutually beneficial partnerships which provide a platform
for ongoing collaboration. We see these aims as complementary to the aspirations articulated in
the Draft Strategy.
StudyAdelaide is charged with promoting Adelaide as centre of education excellence and for
developing and expanding South Australia’s share of the national education export market. A
fundamental part of StudyAdelaide’s role is to identify key markets and develop a range of
digital, social media and other brand marketing awareness campaigns which focus on growing
Adelaide as an education destination. StudyAdelaide also play a key role in supporting
government-to-government engagement, particularly in markets which have been identified as
demonstrating recruitment and growth potential.
Strategic Action 3.1 – preparing students for global engagement.
A key strategic goal in our International Student Strategy will be to grow South Australia’s
international education footprint. This will include goals to step up the delivery of education and
training offshore by utilising our trade partnerships more effectively and identifying educational
and research opportunities. We are also aiming to build the capacity of our vocational education
providers, supporting them as they enter markets with emerging VET sectors and high demand
for skills. Specific initiatives in the Draft Strategy to increase the mobility of Australian students
in the Indo-Pacific regions in particular, are a further opportunity to increase knowledge of the
region and deepen our State’s relationship with other countries.
The South Australian Government welcomes these additional opportunities afforded to our
students through the New Colombo Plan, Endeavour Mobility Grants and through Endeavor
Scholarships and Fellowships.
In terms of preparing our own students to engage more globally, the South Australian
government recognises that the presence of international students in classrooms broadens the
linguistic and cultural perspectives of Australian students, which in turn supports the
development and strengthening of values such as tolerance. However if our students are to
maximize the benefit of international students in classrooms, it is important for the national
strategy to include initiatives to improve community acceptance and an appreciation for cultural
diversity at all levels of education.
Strategic Action 3.2 – Rejuvenating language study.
In terms of actions to rejuvenate language studies, the benefits of learning languages are wellresearched and documented and the South Australian Government would support a strategy
which encourages more Australian students to undertake language studies. We particularly
support the Australian Government’s proposal to introduce a comprehensive strategy to
rejuvenate language study in all stages of the education cycle, from early childhood through to
higher education. However at the secondary and tertiary levels, this strategy could be reinforced
by promoting the long-term personal and economic benefits derived from improved employment
and career options that language skills can bring to individuals.
The trial of online language learning for pre-school age children and the continuing development
of the Australian Curriculum for languages are supported and the South Australian Government
would be pleased to work with the Australian Government to implement a strategy to rejuvenate
language study in South Australian schools.
Strategic Action 4.1 – Attracting students from around the world.
Strategic Action 4.2 – Marketing Australia as a high quality education destination.
StudyAdelaide will continue to undertake the role of marketing South Australia as a high-quality,
affordable and safe destination. We welcome the support provided by the Australian
government and will work collaboratively with Austrade to coordinate and participate in national
marketing and promotional strategies; promoting Australia as a safe, welcoming and highquality destination. As competition for international students increases in our region, this
coordinated effort and ensuring we have a clear, strong message about Australia’s education
offerings will become more important.
However if we are going to ensure the future of Australia’s international education industry,
appropriate and adequate levels of funding are needed for marketing, promotion and
importantly, regulation and compliance; noting our previous comments around TEQSA’s budget
and the capacity to maintain adequate regulatory and compliance activities to support
Australia’s ‘quality’ message.
One opportunity to ensure adequate levels of funding for marketing would be to quarantine and
allocate the additional revenue received from CPI increases to students visas to a ‘marketing
fund’.
Pillar 3: staying competitive
The South Australian Government acknowledges the need for Australia to maintain competitive
visa settings and strong consumer protections for international students. We will continue to
work with and participate in the national policy debate through the Education Visa Consultative
Committee.
It is also noted that South Australia’s International Student Strategy will address several issues
around the international student experience including accommodation, employment and
community engagement, several of which align closely with the Draft Strategy.
Strategic Action 5.1 – Maintaining competitive visas and strong consumer protections.
In relation to consumer protection, we are concerned that the draft Strategy makes no mention
of the Commonwealth Overseas Students Ombudsman (OSO). The South Australian
Government sees the Commonwealth OSO as playing a critically important role in ensuring that
international students have an avenue to make complaints and have these complaints
investigated about private education and training in Australia. South Australia’s Office of the
Training Advocate (OTA) plays a critical role in delivering international student consumer
protection in South Australia. In particular, the OTA assists international students with any
aspect of living, working or studying in South Australia. It also works closely with the OSO and
other State and Territory Ombudsmen to ensure a consistent approach around the country to
protecting the consumer rights of international students. The South Australian Government
would like to see these consumer protection bodies and the role they play acknowledged and
incorporated into the Draft Strategy.
In relation to our current student visa settings, we acknowledge that a number of significant
reforms have been implemented over the last several years, including the introduction of the
Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirement, changes to the student visa Assessment
Levels, the introduction of Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP) and more recently, introduction of
the 485 post-study work visa for university graduates.
We acknowledge the comments in the Productivity Commission’s report on International
Education that changes and reviews of student visa policy settings to achieve multiple policy
objectives have occurred too frequently. While the student visa program’s objective is to support
the growth of the international education sector, while maintaining immigration integrity, these
shifts have resulted in some inequality amongst education sectors. Specifically the rollout of
SVP to universities and other higher education providers, to the exclusion of smaller VET
providers, has seen a change in student enrolments with enrolments for higher education
courses increasing by 33 per cent over the two years following the introduction of SVP
compared with student visa applications for VET courses falling by 15 per cent for the same
period.1
We acknowledge that many of these reforms have achieved their purpose and have resulted in
a more robust student visa system. However ongoing uncertainty and even perceived inequality
in the student visa system needs to be addressed as a matter of priority.
The South Australian Government also welcomes the proposed review of the Education
Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Framework in order to continue to protect international
students and assure Australia’s reputation for quality is maintained.
What would you like to see progressed as a priority in the first year?
As a priority, the South Australian Government would like to see the allocation of adequate
levels of funding for the promotion of Australia as a study destination progressed as a priority
within the first year.
We would also like to see work begin on a number of strategic actions under the Staying
Competitive pillar – actions which will build on Australia’s capacity to remain competitive by
delivering a high-quality student experience.
In particular, Strategic Action 5.5 – Improving access to suitable and affordable accommodation
recognises that being able to secure accommodation either prior to arrival or on arrival is crucial
for a positive student experience. Proposed actions to investigate ways to establish a consistent
quality ratings model for student accommodation would be a priority for the South Australian
Government as we look to implement a student accommodation guarantee.
As mentioned in response to Strategic Action 5.1 – Maintaining competitive visas and strong
consumer protections, we would like to see the Government’s response to the Future Directions
for Streamlined Visa Processing and to the Productivity Commission’s Research paper on
International Education Services progressed as a priority. We believe this will ensure Australia’s
student visa program remains competitive whilst not inhibiting the growth or negatively
impacting on any of Australia’s international education sectors.
1
Australian Government. International Education Services. Productivity Commission Research Paper. April 2015.