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
Ana Deumert, Simon Marginson, Chris Nyland, Gaby Ramia, Erlenawati Sawir
Abstract: Between 1995 and 2001, the number of international students studying in OECD nations rose from 1.3 to 1.6 million (OECD 2003), and the cross-border delivery of education, via foreign branch campuses and in distance education modes, also increased significantly. Global demand for international education is fed by the growth in globally mobile work especially in business studies, and information and communications technologies (ICTs) (OECD 2002a), the desire for migration, especially to English language nations (OECD 2002b); and Asian middle classes prepared to invest privately in education (Marginson and McBurnie 2004).
The growth in the supply of international education is fed by national export strategies, for example in the UK and Australia, and by enterprise universities for whom international recruitment into full-fee paying courses has been driven partly by reductions in public funding per student (Marginson and Considine 2000; Marginson 2003). This growth and diversification of student and university mobility is both reflection of and contributor to globalisation, understood here as the widening, deepening and speeding up of world-wide inter-connectedness (Held etal 1999, Castells 2000).
Abstract: There is a long standing perception in university circles that study abroad students have tended to achieve relatively weaker results than other groups of students. This has been attributed to many factors, such as cultural differences and different learning styles, as well as belief in the common expression ‘They’re here for a good time, not a long time! As part of long term study, Macquarie Abroad has been collecting and processing data on the results of study abroad students for the past 5 semesters – breaking down results by both country of origin and the partners sending the students, as well as the subjects the students are studying. The results have been quite surprising, and consistent from semester to semester, with study abroad students achieving at least average and often above average results when compared against local students.
This session will look in depth at the results of the study at Macquarie and will examine the implication of these results for institutions around the country. It will also discuss the use of the data in positive PR messages around the campus. It will be of great benefit to all incoming study abroad and exchange practitioners, particularly those considering their own progression studies.
