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Is Higher Education the Development Partner?Is the higher education sector as engaged in development activities as it could (or should) be? It is difficult to give a straight response to this question. If the question was “if the higher education sector is not as engaged as it could be, why is this so?” the answer would point to more than the sector itself. We are not talking here about higher education as a level of education, rather as an establishment, a sector with a wealth of expertise that does, and could contribute additional, significant value towards achieving, for example, the Millennium Development Goals. So, what do others say…Turpin (2004) suggests that there remains a likely imbalance between national development priorities in the developing world, and the strategies implemented through the internationalisation of education . Hennequin (2004) comments that Australia’s international education program maintains a very narrow internationalisation focus that is “overwhelmingly dominated by onshore fee-paying international students” . As Marginson (2002) commented about Australia, the “driving force behind the foreign-student recruitment boom was the structure of financial incentives” . More recently, Crewe (2005) suggests that it the “income from international education [that] makes it possible for the academic enterprise to continue” . So, is there anything wrong with an international education system that creates export earnings? Of course not. But is the international education industry contributing to global development, or economic development of the institutions that receive international students? Probably both. Contributing $5.0 billion annually to Australia’s national income.Recent figures for the Australian international education industry indicate there were 322,776 enrolments from international students into Australian education in 2004, of which just over 150,000 were in the higher education sector. Across all international enrolments in 2004, about 46% of these are for students coming from countries for which AusAID, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank continue to contribute – more than 85,000 were enrolled in Australian higher education institutions. Ten thousand of these enrolments, for example, were for Indonesian students in higher education, and for Indonesia, AusAID over the past 50 years claims to have provided her more than 8,000 scholarships .
There are many examples of great benefits for home nations as a consequence of international students undertaking studies in Australia’s higher education system – both through a development scholarship program and as a self-funded student. Equally clear is the incredible wealth of knowledge, skill and experience in our higher education institutions from which value can be realised in other than formal education programs. So too are there many examples to suggest that the higher education sector is engaged in global development. Could the sector be the ideal development partner? Could greater efforts be made to proactively engage the sector, to further encourage involvement in development activities? Is there more to an education development strategy than offering scholarships? Some answers. A few beliefs. And, many more questions. Mel Dunn Notes:Turpin, T. (2004) Higher Education and Regional Development: Tensions, Challenges and Options in East and South East Asia, 18th IDP AIEC, Marginson, S. 2002. The phenomenal rise of international degrees down under. Lucrative lessons of U.S. Institutions? – Australia Crewe Ivor: President, Universities UK AEI 2005, Recent Annual Statistics, |
Mel's ArchivesThe Expression of Interest (EOI) Internationalisation of Education – Globalisation or Development - the big picture So what do you do?: The art of promoting yourself Lateral thinking in tender preparation |
