And fairness for all? Equity and the international student cohort

Abstract

When A Fair Chance for All was developed, the international student cohort in Australia was small and its original exclusion from the Framework’s consideration is unsurprising in this context. However, while the authors themselves iterated the need for an ongoing process around defining and identifying groups, an equity framework for international students has remained absent despite international students now comprising nearly a quarter of university enrolments. This chapter argues that to achieve the deeper international engagement to which Australian universities now almost universally aspire requires the development of reciprocal and respectful relationships with partner universities and governments overseas. While Australia may not be concerned with access and equity abroad, these partners most certainly are, and an ongoing disregard for equity is a major impediment to building meaningful relationship in the countries from which we recruit our students. The chapter considers the impact of various government policies on equity for international students. While our visa requirements do not help to broaden access, many other features of Australian’s international education system do, most important of which are the ability of students to undertake a broad range of programs at various levels and to transition between them, the ability of students to work in Australia during their studies and after graduation, and the ability of students to undertake degrees offshore at much lower cost. We should celebrate the ways in which these measures support less affluent students, and focus now on providing more high-quality, low-cost purpose-built student accommodation and extending support services for those students who are not coping.