Offshore schools need national oversight
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A national strategy that promotes a co-ordinated approach between state curriculum authorities is needed if Australia is to consolidate its international school offerings, a new report says.
While nearly all new offshore international schools offering an Australian curriculum in the past four years have been in China, geopolitical tensions and increasing levels of state control of foreign businesses suggests fewer operators will be willing to enter or expand in that market.
Offshore schools present strong pathways to tertiary education in Australia.Â
Sanghee Liu
The report says Australia is a small and fragmented player in a very large market that is dominated by a small number of mainly US and British competitors. But the opportunities to the economy by students transferring from an international school in their own country to an onshore tertiary education institution should force a rethink of how the sector is construed.
International student return should be approached with caution: Alan Tudge theage.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theage.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Australian National University higher education expert Andrew Norton said international student data suggested Chinese students were resistant to worsening relations between the two countries. Relations took a further hit on Wednesday when the federal government cancelled Victoriaâs controversial Belt and Road deal with the rising superpower.
Reaction by Victoriaâs business sector was muted on Thursday, with the stateâs main employer group saying any impact on the local economy from the Morrison governmentâs move remained to be seen.
Wine exporters told
The Age that tariffs imposed by China on Australian exports last year had done far more damage to their trade than the end of the Belt and Road arangement would.
Belt and Road row: Hopes rising tension with China won t hit Chinese student numbers in Victoria smh.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smh.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Vaccine rollout – Concern over international student return
The AU$40 billion (US$31 million) a year international education sector is warning it cannot afford to lose a third academic year before international students return to Australia as universities hope rollout delays of COVID-19 vaccines will not further restrict intakes, writes Anna Patty for
The Sydney Morning Herald.
Western Sydney University Vice-Chancellor Barney Glover said he hopes the vaccine rollout will not affect a programme designed for the safe return of international students in modest numbers. A ‘safe corridors proposal’ for the return of overseas students to New South Wales would start with small numbers and progressively increase to a maximum of up to 600 each fortnight, pending federal government approval.