Abstract: This paper first outlines a 12 week programme of Ongoing Academic Orientation (OAO) which was trialled in the Waikato Management School (WMS) during the 2004 A and B semesters and then reports the results of a questionnaire survey given to the students who followed the programme in A semester 2004. The questionnaire had three functions: to gather data on the trial programme’s efficacy, content, timing, and length; to gain some insights into the extent to which these students were engaging with their New Zealand English-speaking environment on a daily basis; and to determine if those taking the programme had also sought one-to-one Language and Learning (L&L) help, and if so, had they found it helpful. While the majority of students found the OAO programme and the one-to-one tutorials useful, the results on their daily use of English were of concern. Hence ways of encouraging intercultural contact through conversation classes are discussed and then recommended for inclusion alongside the OAO in future.
Abstract: This paper reports on research undertaken in a university department to determine if academic staff used a range of theory-based practical teaching strategies that are promoted to assist international students adjust to Australian academe and support their learning. The department has an enrolment of 50 per cent international students and is located at a medium-size Australian university that is in the planning phase of internationalising its teaching and learning activities. A ‘mixed methods’ research approach used a questionnaire and interviews to collect data from the academic staff. The results indicate that whilst a range of teaching strategies that have the capacity to benefit international students were used, the possibility exists that some staff are approaching this from a student-centred learning model that does not necessarily exhibit a well-developed cultural dimension.
Key Words: Internationalisation, Teaching International Students, Teaching Strategies, ‘Mixed Methods’ Research
Abstract: This paper will consider the experience of two Australian exchange students at the Grenoble Ecole de Management ( GEM) through a short film that I made about them while I was on staff development leave at this institution during the first 3 months of 2005. I will show the film, discuss how the film was made and then discuss some of the themes it raises in terms of the value that such exchange programmes can be to the Australian business student both in terms of their personal development and their future employment drawing on one of the student’s recent resume and experience in his first job back in Australia.
Key words: Exchange students, Study Abroad, exchange programs
Abstract: The Federal Government funding cuts since the 1990s have forced many (if not all) Australian universities to find alternative means to subsidise such shortfalls, one of these being increased international enrolment. One of the consequences of this new economic direction is the influx of international students with new kinds of expectations and overwhlmed academic and administrative staff who have not fully appreciated or undertood the full import of such dramatic academic cultural shift.
Key words: education funding, commercialisation of education, education export
Abstract: There are approximately 300,000 international students in Australia, overall representing a significant contribution to the Australian economy. So huge, that the Australian government is now accustomed to referring the international students’ market as an ‘export commodity’. When there are new emerging trends of students from certain countries/regions, the influx more often than not equates to the dollar value each student can bring in to the country. This trend is only likely to increase given the Australian government’s continual reduction of real funding to Universities and the pressure to fund activities from commercial enterprises.
Key words: education as a commodity, education export, education funding, commercialisation of education
