Education Essay Example: International Students of Australia

Apart from the public foreign revenue

According to data and figures obtained as recently as February 2017, the number of international students in Australia has reached a landmark high. The revenue generated from accommodating international students in Australia as of the end of the 2016 Financial Year was $21 billion (Australian Dollars). The Federal Education Department put the number at 554,179 students fully paying their fees (Green et al., 2017). There are another 80,000 students who are either fully or partly sponsored. Forty-three percent of these students were in the institution of higher learning. China and India had the first and second largest number of international students (Edwards et al., 2016).

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Apart from the public foreign revenue generated from international schools, there are some other benefits associated with the continual increase in the number of international students to Australia. International relations with countries such as China, India, South Africa, Brazil and dozens of other countries have improved. Bi-lateral and multi-lateral trade in commodities and services such as language translators have benefited a lot from this trend. Various research has noted that there has developed better cultural interaction between students from different backgrounds. Also important is the availability of an extensive expert and specialized knowledge base stemming from the high number of graduates both Australian citizens and internationals. A healthy competition for jobs, market, goods and services delivery has ultimately led to high-quality standards in the Australian job and product and services market even though there have been problems of unequal treatment (Stein & de Andreotti).

Regarding the impact on education, the exposure to international students from over 200 countries has helped domestic students to gain exposure to socio-economic and political conditions of individual countries all over the world. The vocational education sector in Australia has been boosted a lot by the presence of more than half a million international students. The English Language Intensive Courses attracted 21% of the total number of international students. In total vocational education students made up 26% showing how much the English Language Intensive Courses are popular in this sector. Teaching at both university and professional training centers have been affected as a result. With many international students from China and India and other foreign countries having English as the second language, much focus has been put on teaching the English language. That is why eighty percent of the vocational courses are English-based. Language translators have had to be acquired in various universities and professional institutions especially those with Asian students making up the majority of the population. There have been reports by international students that the English courses are not intensive and student-oriented though (Haugh, 2016).

Australian society

Although there are various benefits associated with international students, there have been some challenges experienced. With the flooding of international students in Australian institutions, the level and quality of education have been on the decline solely because the facilities and services currently in place at the universities are too few for the large student population. Perhaps isolation of students and lack of integration with Australian society have led to students giving negative reviews of universities. In a 2016 survey done by 1,400 Chinese students in Sydney University 79% of the students deemed the university as "not high quality"- only 11% gave positive reviews. 60% of the total international students are Chinese, and so a lot has to be done to accommodate their specific needs (Tan & Hugo, 2016).

Almost a hundred thousand international students have full or part-scholarship. Most international students view Australian education as a cheaper alternative compared to the options available back home (Zhang et al., 2016). In 2016 more than 75% have held jobs part-time or full-time before and half of these international students admitted they had no option. Apathy in the job market by the general Australian public has not helped the situation of international students (Gribble et al., 2017). Additionally, there has not been much support in getting attachment and internship positions. However, efforts are being done by the government such as the Australian Awards Scholarships and International Postgraduate Research Scholarships (IPRS) to help out students. Various individual universities have their support programs too to assist students in their fees, accommodation, internships and so on. All in all, despite all this there is a gap regarding giving students enough support.

References

Green, R., Berti, M., & Sutton, N. (2017). Higher Education in Management: The Case of Australia. InT The Future of Management EducationT (pp. 117-137). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Gribble, C., Rahimi, M., & Blackmore, J. (2017). International Students and Post-study Employment: The Impact of University and Host Community Engagement on the Employment Outcomes of International Students in Australia. InT International Student Connectedness and IdentityT (pp. 15-39). Springer Singapore.

Haugh, M. (2016). Complaints and troubles talk about the English language skills of international students in Australian universities.T Higher Education Research & Development,T 35(4), 727-740.

Stein, S., & de Andreotti, V. O. (2016). Cash, competition, or charity: international students and the global imaginary.T Higher Education,T 72(2), 225-239.

Tan, G., & Hugo, G. (2016). The transnational migration strategies of Chinese and Indian students in Australia.T Population, Space and Place.

Zhang, L. C., Worthington, A. C., & Hu, M. (2016). Cost economies in the provision of higher education for international students: Australian evidence.T Higher Education, 1-18.

Edwards, D., Radloff, A., & McMillan, J. (2016). University experience in Australia and Japan: Using a common survey to understand similarities and differences.T Joining the Dots Research Briefings, 12.