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The Australian Financial Review
Monday 16 February 2009
Education section, p.27
by Joanna Mather
Travel Broadens the Degree
The University sector will invest at least $20 million in study abroad programs this year in a bid to help Australian graduates brush up on their international knowledge and stand out in an increasingly global employment market.
The number of students going abroad for study has been growing each year and about 6 per cent of those who graduated in 2007, or 8354 undergraduates, spent some time overseas as part of their course.
But experts say Australia will have to lift its game if local graduates are to be competitive in a jobs market where global knowledge, cross-cultural understanding and foreign language skills at a premium.
In the United States, the take up of international study experiences has reached 13 per cent. Australian universities are attempting to keep pace by beefing up travel scholarships and adopting targets for undergraduate participation in formal overseas learning experiences, including volunteer work, short-term study and language tours, semester-long programs and internships.
There is a clear understanding in universities that we need to do whatever we can to maximise the chances of our graduates getting good jobs,” said Tracy McCabe, chair of the Australian Universities International Directors Forum and director of the international office at the University of Newcastle.
Swinburne University of Technology has set one of the sector’s most ambitious targets. It wants 20 per cent of completing students to be able to list a formal overseas experience on their resumes by 2015.
The University of NSW aims to double the number of its graduates with an overseas experience from 500 to 1000 by 2012 as it promotes the concept of “global education for global citizens”.
The University of Melbourne has increased its support for students going overseas to $2 million this year and Griffith University will spend an extra $1 million.
Rob Malicki, the director of the Australian Institute for Mobility Overseas, said $20 million or more would be spent this year on travel grants and support services for students undertaking overseas programs across the sector, including $5.5 million in federal government scholarships.
Hong-Kong based education consultant Alan Olsen said universities were increasingly using revenue from foreign students coming to Australia to fund initiatives such as travel grants for their own students to undertake international study experiences. Sixty per cent of international study experiences of all types were supported by university funds in 2007, he said.
Mr Olsen was the author of a major study of participation rates by Australian students in international study experiences - published last year and based on 2007 figures (the latest available).
The federal government supports overseas study experiences via its Endeavour grants program, this year extended to the vocational education and training sector.
But there is growing pressure for the removal of a 20 per cent loan fee imposed on students who borrow money through an income-contingent scheme similar to the higher education contribution scheme. Os Help loans incur a fee of 20 per cent of the amount of the loan, and removing the fee is one the recommendations made by the Bradley review of higher education.
Cost and family and work commitments are widely acknowledged as barriers for students. As such, short-term programs of four or five weeks are increasingly popular.
According to Mr Olsen’s study, 40 per cent of students who took part in an overseas study experience in 2007 did so via a short-term program, up on 36 per cent in 2005.
Students in commerce and management were most likely to have an international experience, followed closely by those doing arts and culture-related degrees. Last year at Macquarie University, about 300 undergraduate and postgraduate students went on a full-semester exchange abroad and 200 took part in short-term programs.
Governments around the world are drawing a direct link between graduates equipped to operate in a global environment and future prosperity. The phrase “global student mobility” has become part of the higher education vernacular everywhere.
In the US, the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act, a bill formalising the role of overseas study experiences in undergraduate education, is making its way through Congress.
Global knowledge is also a key consideration in what is known as the Bologna process in Europe, where members of the European Union are modernising and standardising higher education to make the system more attractive to both Europeans and foreigners.
Swinburne University of Technology is a front runner in Australia. More than 12 per cent of Swinburne undergraduates took part in some form of international study experience last year and the figure was expected to reach 15 per cent in 2009, Stephen Connelly, deputy vice-chancellor of development and engagement, said.
“I think, if possible, all university students ay undergraduate level should have an overseas experience,” he said. “It’s part of a well-rounded education.” More than half of Swinburne students who go overseas do so on short-term programs and the university is ramping up offerings at its Sarawak campus in Malaysia.
A typical short-term program lasts three or four weeks and costs $2500 to $5000. But only semester-long exchanges attract federal support.
Universities are also using student mobility programs as a means for differentiating themselves in an increasingly crowded higher education marketplace.
The University of South Australia last year introduced Global Experience, a scheme designed to give its students a competitive edge in the global jobs market. Students who sign up to the program collect points over the life of their degree by taking part in activities such as a semester abroad, short-term study tours, conferences or on-campus workshops. Those who earn the required 120 points receive a footnote on their graduation transcript. Global experience director Vicky Feast said the aim was to have 150 students in the program in 2009, 300 by 2010.
La Trobe University has a draft target for participation in overseas experiences of 12 per cent of undergraduates by 2012. Chief officer international, John Molony, said combined government and university spending on student mobility initiatives was $1.6 million in 2008. That commitment would be maintained in 2009 despite a “very tough budget cycle”, he said.
“We’re not only producing a benefit to individuals, but there is also a collective benefit in terms of the contribution it makes to the Australian labour market through better-prepared and more well-rounded students who have a global set of skills.” Given the cost barriers, ensuring equitable access to overseas study experience was a priority for La Trobe, Mr Molony said.
The global mobility trend is being adopted at faculty level and in specific degree programs. At the Australian National University, the Faculty of Asian Studies has adopted a target to have half of its students spending a part of their degree overseas, while the University of Technology Sydney has made two semesters of study overseas mandatory in its bachelor of international studies degree.
James Cook has created a student mobility office so that students in regional areas have opportunities for travel.
23/08/10