FOREIGN students studying in Australia are all too often regarded as cash cows to finance domestic students and research, a review of the nation's education system has found.
It also warns that many universities rely far too heavily on international education to compensate for poor public funding, and calls for an extra A$6 billion (S$6 billion) in financing.
The Bradley Review of Australian Higher Education, presented to the government yesterday, is the most important study of its kind since 2002.
In a frank and often critical assessment, it claims the higher education system has deteriorated as inadequate financial support threatens to undermine some academic institutions.
The review's proposals for the next four years include measures to boost participation in higher education, improve international competitiveness, and address chronic skills shortages.
If its bold recommendations are adopted, Australia's education system will undergo radical change, but at a cost: Almost A$6 billion of additional public revenue would be required, the review estimates.
Education is Australia's third largest export earner and it is a measure of the concern felt by the review panel that it has talked so candidly about the industry's current and long-term importance.
While the review supported institutions' right to manage their own affairs, it pointed out that many used overseas student revenue to support domestic students and help finance research infrastructure.
'This suggests that funds available for teaching of domestic students and for research activities may be insufficient and that services for international students would improve if more funds were made available,' it said.
The review said more public funding 'would ensure that more of the income generated from international students could be used to improve services for those students'.
It also warned that the international student cash cow might not last forever. 'Indications that the growth of the market is slowing suggest that domestic and global competition will intensify,' it said.
'Asian countries from which Australia has traditionally recruited students are developing their local higher education capacity to meet domestic demand and are becoming players in the international student market,' it added.
Faced with such a challenge, the review recommended greater emphasis on the quality of the experience for international students, and on offering help to prepare them for employment in Australia.
It also suggested creating 1,000 international scholarships to help ease the skills shortage.
As the review made clear: 'International students make a significant contribution to the nation's skills base and Australia needs to ensure that it has the regulatory frameworks in place to facilitate the retention of graduates.'
Education is top earner
- Education generates more than A$14 billion (S$14.2 billion) in export revenue.
- Foreign student numbers have gone from 21,000 to over 250,000 in the last 20 years.
- As an English-speaking destination chosen by overseas students, Australia is outranked only by the United States and Britain.
- Most students are from Asia, and currently about 8,000 from Singapore are in Australia.
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