News & Views item - November 2010

 

 

 Oz Unis See Big Decline in Overseas Enrolments -- US Enrollments of International Students Up. (November 17, 2010)

A survey issued earlier this week by the Institute of International Education indicates that overall US enrollments of tertiary International students has increased significantly over 2009 which in turn had increased over 2008.

 

Then last night ABC's Lateline Presenter Leigh Sales: Universities are warning the $18 billion overseas student sector is in danger of collapse due to the strong dollar, changes to student visas and well-publicised violent attacks.

 

This interview with two Australian university vice-chancellors, together with an obligato from Simon Marginson, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, sounded like the intoning of a tragedising Greek chorus.

 

FRED HILMER, VICE-CHANCELLOR, UNSW: If this were General Motors [instead of Monash University] and this were its car plants in Melbourne and 300-plus people were being let go, we'd have every minister from the Prime Minister down talking about how to fix this.

 

SIMON MARGINSON: I think [this decline in international student enrollments] snuck up on Australians a little. People don't realise that about 125,000 people in terms of full-time equivalent jobs are employed in this sector. It's very important in some regions and some cities.  In China [the high dollar] is playing out as a factor. China's our major source country for students.

 

ROSS MILBOURNE, VICE-CHANCELLOR, UTS: What we heard constantly was concerns from China about our visa processing, the time it took to get visas, the cost of the visas and the amount of funding that students needed to be able to guarantee before they could apply for a visa.

 

FRED HILMER: If we could only change one thing, we would change our visa policy. People in Asia - and I've just come back from a visit to seven major centres - people don't feel that they're welcome here. And we've got to really change our political rhetoric and get a much more civil and a sensible debate.

     Then referring to the assumption that people who come to study in Australia want to stay: The overwhelming majority of students coming to our universities are coming here and then they're going back.

 

SIMON MARGINSON: The pattern of violence affecting south Asian students, Indians and Bangladeshis mainly, in Melbourne over the three years up to the beginning of this year has substantially harmed our reputation, as a safe, secure and tolerant country, in India.

 

ROSS MILBOURNE: [Referring to universities reporting a 9% drop across the board in overseas enrolments while Central Queensland University is expecting a 25%  drop with Victoria University reporting similar figures] The middle of next year is the start of when we believe we will see the big drops starting to happen, and then for the next two or three years the current projections are that's when it's really going to come home to hit us.
 

SIMON MARGINSON: The whole gamut of higher education functions will be affected by reductions in revenue on this scale, with the newer, lesser status universities being hit hardest, but some of our oldest and best universities also being affected, I think.
 

 

We might of course mention in passing that Armidale born, University of California, Berkeley Professor Jillian Banfield just awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science and named a L’Oréal-UNESCO Laureate when speaking with the ABC last week -- pleaded with the Australian Government to give its scientists more support: "I think that the universities have suffered tremendously from underfunding and defunding in Australia."

 

But take heart here is an excerpt from the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr announcing the 200 Future Fellowship awards for this year:

 

James Watson, the pioneer of DNA science, had this advice for scientists (Avoid Boring People: Remembered Lessons, OUP, 2007).

   “Never be the smartest person in the room.”

 

Never be the top dog in a second-rate faculty.

Have the courage to be something better.

Work with the best. Prepare to be criticised. Seek inspiration – not adoration.

That is the only road to excellence.

The Australian Government demands no less.

We are not in the business of funding second-rate research.

We want our researchers to reach their full potential.

And we measure excellence on a global scale.

We want to see the world’s best and brightest working in our research centres and industries.

They will help us solve the great challenges of our time.

And they will inspire the next generation to strive for excellence.

The Australian Research Council’s Future Fellowships program is critical to this work.

For too long, promising mid-career researchers were driven away by the lack of opportunities in Australia.

The Labor Government established the Future Fellowships scheme to fill that gap.

Today, I announce that more than $143 million will be injected into 200 new Fellowships.

That investment will bring the skills and ideas of twenty-two overseas researchers to our universities.

And it will provide vital opportunities for our home-grown researchers to build their careers here.

That includes ten Australians who will now be returning home.

All 200 Fellows will contribute to research in priority areas for the nation.

They cross the spectrum from climate change, to Indigenous health care, to telling the stories of our servicemen and women.

That is testament to the value of a world-leading research workforce.

The Research Workforce Strategy we are now developing will help ensure we build and maintain our reputation for excellence.

We are serious about providing our best researchers with the best kit.

That’s why, on the 1st of December, I will announce the successful projects in the latest round of the ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme.

I congratulate the 200 successful Future Fellows.

And I thank them for the contribution they will make to the nation.

 

Of course not until our political leaders are prepared to proactively compare Australia with the best of its OECD cohort can the nation expect to experience significant relative progress.