Australia Government Unveil Blueprint To Expand International Education

National strategy for international education 2025

The government has released a 10-year blueprint for expansion of its international education sector with the aim of making Australia a global leader in education, training and research. It places a heavy emphasis on expanding transnational education through online courses.

Under the blueprint the government has launched three strategies – the National Strategy for International Education 2025; the Australia Global Alumni Engagement Strategy and the Australian International Education 2025, or AIE2025, market development roadmap.

The National Strategy for International Education 2025 is based on:


    Strengthening the fundamentals across the education system, which includes delivering the best possible student experience and providing effective quality assurance and regulation;

    Building transformative partnerships linking people, institutions and governments, which includes strengthening partnerships at home and abroad, enhancing mobility, and building lasting connections with alumni; and

    Competing globally through strengthening the brand, coordination and reputation within international education, which includes promoting Australia’s excellence and embracing opportunities to grow international education.


The strategy document says Australia is the third most popular destination for international tertiary students and will look for new ways to “deliver and improve support services, affordable and convenient accommodation and public transport” and will also “facilitate work opportunities”. International students can work while studying and apply for a work visa following completion of their study.

To implement the strategy, Senator Richard Colbeck, minister for tourism and international education, has announced the creation of a new Council for International Education, whose members will include Belinda Robinson, chief executive of Universities Australia, and Phil Honeywood, chief executive officer of the International Education Association of Australia.

The government will spend A$12 million (US$8.8 million) over four years from 2016-17 on its implementation.

“The intent of the strategy is to ensure Australia remains a leader in the provision of education services to overseas students. Australia already has a well-deserved reputation for the quality of our education and research; however, to fully realise our potential we must be both strategic and ambitious.

“To achieve this, we must build on our existing education, training and research strengths, to deliver high quality, innovative products and services to students that meet or exceed their expectations. This will enable us to withstand increasing competition and sustainably grow our market share.”

He stressed that although traditional forms of education will remain in high demand there are new and emerging forms of education where there are significant opportunities for both students and providers. These include blended delivery models, online professional development, and offshore and edu-tourism opportunities.

Market development roadmap

The market development roadmap sets out the government’s aspiration to capitalise on the expected increase in the global market by 2025 to one billion students actively seeking education and skills, as predicted by analysis by Deloitte Access Economics.

Based on these projections the onshore sector may be capable of increasing from nearly 500,000 students today to 720,000 by 2025. The roadmap says in a “high market-share scenario” these numbers could even double to nearly 990,000 by 2025.

“Beyond this, in the relatively untapped borderless skills market of… online and blended delivery there are projected to be in excess of one billion students around the world. Reaching just 10% of the market would translate to over 110 million students in 2025.”

It says major demographic shifts, coupled with significant restructuring in the global economy mean that the scale of the international education market is likely to increase dramatically. At the same time technology and market liberalisation open up opportunities to pursue the “broader conceptual opportunity” of the “borderless 2025 student”, suggesting there will be a clear emphasis on increasing transnational education.

The roadmap says 2025 students will be far more mobile, diverse and flexible in their careers than ever as digital disruption continues to redesign industries. “Australian institutions are already responding to these skills gaps by partnering with business to build specific learning pathways through online competency-based education,” it says.

Curiously, however, there are few specifics on the roadmap. Written in breathlessly aspirational and dizzyingly abstract prose, the document talks vaguely of creating “game changers”, competing at scale, embracing border-less learning, and unleashing technology, preceded by a dark warning that the sector “must disrupt or be disrupted”.

Global alumni engagement strategy

In a similar vein, the Australia Global Alumni Engagement Strategy says more than 2.5 million international students have studied in Australia over the past five decades and together with the students currently studying overseas they make up Australia’s 'Global Alumni Community'.

These alumni are “current and future leaders, influencers and change-makers” and the strategy aims to “unlock their full potential” by connecting them to each other, mobilising engagement with alumni and celebrating the achievements of alumni.

However, the strategy as elaborated so far seems to amount principally to the development of online communities through the Australia Global Alumni website, which features events and alumni stories and the career-oriented online network, LinkedIn.

The national strategy suggests most of the growth in demand for international education will continue to come from China and India and other East and Southeast Asian markets including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

According to Colbeck, collaboration and partnerships are a key focus of this strategy. “They can afford tremendous opportunity for expansion into markets that otherwise might be prohibitive, enabling smaller providers to achieve scale and broaden their education offerings,” he said.

“There is also a role they can play in promoting a continuum of education, encouraging students to progress through the Australian education system, transitioning from school to higher education or vocational qualifications or between providers."

He stressed that the majority of the strategy will be driven by the education sector, but there is a clear role for government in facilitating growth of Australian international education by ensuring, where there are interacting policy levers, such as with student visas and settings in trade agreements, that policies are “mutually compatible and internationally competitive”.

Last week a report by Deloitte Access Economics, commissioned by the Department of Education and Training, said international education contributes nearly A$1 billion (US$764 million) more to the economy than previously estimated and the government put the current real value of the sector at close to A$21 billion.

When the Coalition government came to power in 2014 it moved quickly to increase the attractiveness of Australia as a study destination in the wake of plunging enrollment, particularly during 2009 to 2012.

Concerns about student safety and more stringent visa requirements for students were among the factors behind the falling numbers, as well as the strong Australian dollar and global economic downturn. The government has since streamlined the student visa application process to significantly reduce red tape and introduce a more targeted approach to rooting out applicants considered to be seeking a visa fraudulently, with no intention of entering the country to study.

Senator Colbeck said the new strategy “signals the sector’s and the government’s commitment to work together to advance international education by identifying new products and new opportunities for expansion, and building on our current presence in existing markets.

“In order to achieve this, it is critical that we embrace the role as a driver of change. We must be conscious of what our competitors are doing, particularly what they are doing better than us. It is vital we are honest about our shortcomings and proactive in addressing concerns when they arise.”