This Chapter summarises the findings from the Stocktake (Chapter 3) and Case Studies (Chapter 4) in respect of Program Strategies for Internationalisation, then looks at these findings in the context of the Conceptual Framework for Internationalisation and Australian Government policy.

The scope of internationalisation ranges far beyond the issues directly related to international students, although there are close connections with the international student program and the distance and off shore initiatives. These issues, addressed in the Report and brought together in this chapter, include the international dimension of curriculum, research, academic links and exchanges, cross-cultural issues, community services and technical assistance.

The focus of Australia's internationalisation activities is Global. On a number of dimensions, including international student program, internationalisation of teaching, offshore and distance education and, overwhelmingly, in internationalisation in research, universities responded to the Stocktake that the focus of their programs was Global. Only in respect of international technical assistance and training was the focus on Asia.

The six Program Strategies summarised are:

• International Student Program;
• Internationalisation of Teaching;
• Offshore and Distance Education;
• International Technical Assistance and Training;
• Internationalisation in Research; and
• International Student and Community Support Services.

International Student Program

International student programs are central to internationalisation. From the Stocktake, international students in Australia's 38 universities in 1995 made up 8.4% of total student populations. These programs provided 6.6% of total university income, with 8 of 32 universities reporting that more than 10% of income in 1995 was from international student fees.

In setting targets for international student programs, universities reported policy as the most important issue ahead of market and capacity factors.

The Case Study at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) showed a university with international students making up 14.2% of total student population, against an articulated, policy-based, long term target of 15%.

UNSW:

• has the advantage of a long history of international students;
• claims a strong international profile; and
• has developed in the 1990s a marketing plan targeting five niches: Foundation Studies, undergraduate courses, conversion courses for polytechnic diplomates, coursework masters programs and research degrees.

In its marketing plan, UNSW:

• is generous with its marketing resources;
• recognises that face to face contact overseas is important;
• acknowledges the importance of 'word of mouth' student endorsements;
• chooses not to rely on agents overseas; and
• manages risk by diversification.

The University has taken its Foundation Studies program offshore to Malaysia and Indonesia, with plans for other countries, in the expectation that most of these offshore students will choose UNSW for their undergraduate courses.

UNSW derives substantial income - just on 14% of total income in 1995 - from the tuition fees of international students. This fee income allows a range of educational and internationalisation initiatives at the university.

UNSW's international students contribute to the multicultural mix of students at UNSW, to the culture of internationalism on campus and to high academic performance. Study Abroad students, predominantly from the United States and Europe, contribute to the diversity of ethnic groups and nationalities on campus and provide lively contributions to classes and campus.

As the Case Study reports, it is no accident that UNSW, with its international student program since its inception as a university, has strong international research links. UNSW students, both Australian and international, benefit in their studies from these links.

Internationalisation of Teaching

In respect of internationalisation of the form and content of the teaching curriculum, 30 of 35 universities responding in this area of the Stocktake had strategies in place, covering 89% of international students. In a program area where measurable outcomes are difficult, 21 universities gave themselves at least a pass mark in assessing their achievement of these strategies. In the Case Study visits, there was also evidence of policy decisions being taken, often through an Internationalisation Committee, to expedite the introduction of internationalised curricula at Faculty level.

The Monash Case Study illustrates:

• the linkages between the international student program, internationalisation of research and internationalisation of teaching, with recruitment policy targeted to countries where the University has demonstrated research capacities; the strong focus on teaching of languages and cultures; and the establishment of many specialist research centres for Asian studies;
• the competitive need to internationalise teaching in order to attract the best international students;
• the influence of external advisers in seeking internationalisation of the curriculum; and
• the opportunity for graduates to gain an international perspective through specialised degrees, internationally focussed subjects and international case studies.

All are strategies capable of replication, both in Australia and internationally.

In the Stocktake, all 38 universities reported student exchange agreements with universities overseas. There were a total of 1256 agreements, but 33 universities reported a total of only 1307 students participating as outgoing exchange students in 1995. While many had targets for students enrolled in Australian universities to undertake part of their study abroad, the numbers are still small; however, growth in numbers has been significant, given that outgoing exchanges with a credit component were not encouraged by universities until the early 1990s.

The Case Study at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) focussed on internationalisation of teaching through education abroad. From 1993 to 1995, between 5% and 6% of students in any year of study at RMIT participated in education abroad programs, covering international student exchange, Study Abroad, Study Tours, Conferences and Visits and International Clinical Placement and Work Experience. RMIT's education abroad strategy has the potential to act as a model strategy for other Australian universities.

Some of the features of the strategy are:

• the development of action plans for specific countries/regions;
• the ability to take the cooperative education year of supervised professional practice abroad;
• the adoption of one Faculty's strategy and infrastructure as the university's model for education abroad; and
• the establishment of a Resources Centre dedicated to education abroad with support services.

Offshore and Distance Education

Under the program strategy offshore and distance education, seven universities in the Stocktake reported offshore campuses involving 1,400 students, 27 universities reported twinning arrangements with overseas partners involving 13,000 students, and 22 universities provided distance education to 5,000 students overseas in 1995. All these programs resulted in the awarding of Australian qualifications.

Case Studies undertaken were RMIT for offshore education, University of Southern Queensland (USQ) for international delivery of distance education and Deakin University for technology and lifelong learning.

RMIT in the late 1980s was a pioneer in the field of offshore education, basing its programs on one or more twinning models. With these twinning programs, RMIT takes a curriculum which is already internationalised, repackages the curriculum for use offshore, selects an educational partner, plays a role in selection of local staff, visits and supervises local staff and teaches much of the curriculum itself through block teaching by staff from RMIT Melbourne.

RMIT in 1996 is an experienced provider of offshore education with professionally and vocationally relevant programs, with sound, documented administrative procedures, able to develop programs for niche markets. At the end of 1995, RMIT had 3,010 students offshore in seven countries. In a ground-breaking initiative for Australian higher education offshore, in January 1996 a campus of RMIT opened at Adorna College in Penang, Malaysia, with an initial enrolment of 150 students

RMIT's offshore education strategy has the potential to act as a model strategy for other Australian universities.

USQ builds on Australia's long tradition of providing education over vast distances, offering higher education programs through distance education onshore and offshore on the basis of broad access, high volume and low fees. USQ in 1996 has 13,000 distance education students of whom over 2,000 are offshore. At the heart of its distance education strategy is a Distance Education Centre of 135 staff, responsible for instructional design, student support, instructional technology, production and mailing, evaluation and research.

USQ is a useful model in the international delivery of distance education to other universities prepared to offer broad access, high volume and low fees. It is a valuable model to other universities seeking to deliver courses by electronic means.

Deakin University's use of new technologies is displayed in the software Deakin Interchange, a model of good practice in the use of technology in delivering distance education. Deakin's lifelong learning through Deakin Australia, as exemplified in the CPA year of professional development provided on behalf of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants, is a model of good practice internationally for the delivery of lifelong learning.

International Technical Assistance and Training

Most universities are involved in international technical assistance and training. From the Stocktake, 21 universities in 1995 managed aid projects overseas, 25 universities provided staff to aid projects overseas and 26 universities provided aid-based customised training. On the basis of responses from 30 universities, 15% of international students at those universities in 1995 were scholarship holders including 12% whose scholarships were funded from within Australia.

The Griffith University Case Study illustrates how the University's commitment to internationalisation and innovation and its focus on problem solving for the region have been applied effectively to technical assistance and training projects in the Asia/Pacific region. The Projects directed to health education in China and teacher education in the Pacific are characterised by the special research interests of the academic staff, a network of personal contacts and a good track record of performance. As in the case of international technical assistance generally, the projects result in substantial benefits for recipient countries. In the context of this study, benefits to the universities are in terms of internationalisation of their research interests, exchange of staff resulting in internationalisation in Australian classrooms, involvement with international partners and the provision of international fieldwork experience for staff and postgraduate students. The philosophy, management and implementation of technical assistance projects carried out by Griffith University provide useful models for other universities seeking to become involved in small to medium sized projects.

Internationalisation in Research

From the Stocktake, Australia's universities have established a total of 1,020 international research links, and 28 have set up a total of 519 research centres with international links. In 1995, 30 universities hosted a total of 886 Overseas Postgraduate Research Scholarship (OPRS) students.

Case Studies at the Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Adelaide illustrated several examples of good practice in internationalisation in research. The Indonesia Project, within the Economics Division of ANU's Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS), is an example of the top down establishment of a very successful project which over 35 years has won a world-wide reputation for scholarship in the economics of development in Indonesia. It would be difficult to replicate the Indonesia Project although lessons can be learnt about the importance of leadership and commitment. On the other hand, the National Centre for Development Studies' Vietnam Economic Research Project, also within the RSPAS Division of Economics, is a recent example of bottom up development in which there is now a major research and research training activity with a central focus on the Vietnam economy and which could serve as a general model for other universities with an interest in research and postgraduate training relevant to the needs of a developing country.

At the University of Adelaide, the Case Study illustrated how the culture of the university, in recognising and promoting the importance of research, has provided opportunities for the establishment of centres of research excellence with strong international links. These include the Key Centre for Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems and the Special Research Centre for Basic and Applied Plant Molecular Biology, both of which conduct research and research training of national and international importance. The success of their establishment is a direct outcome of the importance given by the University to the international research reputations of its staff and of its International Research Plan.

Conceptual Framework for Internationalisation

Chapter 2 introduced a Conceptual Framework for Internationalisation which proposed four concepts concerning good practice in the internationalisation process namely:

• a series of organisation and program strategies;
• integration of the strategies, and dynamism between them;
• a flow of funds from the international student program to other strategies; and
• an institutional base for internationalisation within the university.

The Case Studies revealed these concepts to be generally supported.

The organisation and program strategies used as a model by the Project Team were found to reflect the internationalisation process in Australian universities. All universities have in place the full set of strategies, although at different levels of implementation.

In integration and dynamism, the Case Studies:

• show extensive integration of internationalisation programs at Monash University;
• confirm the relationships between international student programs, internationalisation of teaching and internationalisation of research at the Australian National University;
• confirm the relationship between organisation strategy and various program strategies, including education abroad and offshore education at RMIT; and
• confirm the impact that international technical assistance projects can have on internationalisation of teaching and internationalisation of research at Griffith University.

Similarly, the flow of funds exists:

• universities are sensitive to the issue of surpluses that may arise from international student fees;
• surpluses may arise where the fees charged for an international place, on the basis of full average cost, exceed the marginal cost of providing the additional place; and
• these surpluses are applied by the universities for the benefit of international students or for the benefit of all students including international students.

Examples of the flow of funds are:

• universities seed their international student exchange programs, sometimes offering scholarships, often to international students;
• international offices, funded from international student fee income, facilitate bids for international technical assistance projects;
• from the Stocktake, 12 of 36 universities make available to the broader community facilities established for international students - the broader community benefits from the flow of funds from the international student program; and
• universities establish Study Skills programs for international students which later are made available to all students.

The Case Studies confirm that good practice invariably involves an institutional base for internationalisation:

• the Monash University company Monash International is an explicit articulation of an institutional base. Set up in 1994, Monash International carries out 'international educational and research activities on behalf of Monash University'. Specific objectives of the company cover the international student program, international links and exchanges, offshore programs and international technical assistance opportunities. Monash International, in the centre of 'Australia's international university', complements the faculties;
• RMIT, like Curtin University of Technology, after a period of entrepreneurial activity on the part of the Faculties, has located the responsibility for internationalisation strategy and policy formulation in an institutional base in the centre of the university. At both universities, the head is a Dean of International Programs from an academic background; and
• the Case Studies at Griffith University and the University of Southern Queensland confirm the concept of an institutional base less directly. At Griffith University, the Office of Research and International Projects deals with the Faculties in respect of international technical assistance. At the University of Southern Queensland, the Distance Education Centre deals with the Faculties in respect of the delivery of distance education to offshore and onshore students.

Themes

Chapter 2 introduced two themes:

• use of new technologies; and
• quality assurance programs.

In respect of new technologies, there is evidence that Australian universities are starting to make extensive use of new technologies in their internationalisation strategies. The Stocktake highlighted the use of new technology:

• for international student programs, 33 of 37 universities use new technologies including home pages to provide information to potential international students;
• in international delivery of distance education, 22 of 22 universities use new technologies;
• in internationalisation in research, 30 of 32 universities use new technologies to facilitate establishment of research links and for dissemination of research;
• University of Southern Queensland's launch in 1996 of a Graduate Certificate program, offered solely by electronic means, provided a model to other universities; and
• Deakin University's use of new technologies, as displayed in the software Deakin Interchange, is a model of good practice in the use of delivering distance education that has wider application.

Similarly, Australia's universities report that they have in place quality assurance programs covering all internationalisation strategies. Following three years of quality reviews by Australia's Committee for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, universities have a commitment to quality and quality assurance, a finding confirmed in every Case Study:

• in most internationalisation strategies, including international student programs and internationalisation of teaching, universities use the same quality assurance programs for their international activities as for similar activities for domestic students;
• in offshore and distance education, a number of universities have specific quality assurance programs, including 2 of 7 universities for offshore campuses, 6 of 24 for twinning programs and 2 of 22 for international delivery of distance education; and
• in respect of international research links, 15 of 30 universities have set up specific quality assurance programs and in respect of international student support services, 23 of 36 universities have set up quality assurance programs or satisfaction or exit survey procedures to ensure international students as consumers receive value for money.

A Seminar on Quality Assurance and Internationalisation in Higher Education will be held in Adelaide in October 1996. The Seminar, a joint initiative of IDP, EAIE and NUFFIC, will look at international experience in quality assurance.

Quality assurance mechanisms for overseas initiatives have yet to be introduced universally and require further development. Monash University is taking a lead in this area, through its participation in the development of an Internationalisation Quality Review Process, in association with IMHE and the Academic Cooperation Association (Brussels).

Australian Government Policy

The Australian Context for Internationalisation in Chapter 1 describes the bipartisan approach to internationalisation of education and training in Australia.

After the experience of the education aid and education trade phases of policy, Australia's move to the mature internationalisation phase was enunciated by the then Minister for Employment, Education and Training in September 1992 (Chapter 1).

After a change of Federal Government in Australia in March 1996, the new Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs in a Media Release on 20 August 1996 reaffirmed

the high priority the Government places on Australia's international education and training activities

and announced support for

international education initiatives designed to improve access to international education, training and research opportunities for Australians, promote the export of Australian education and training services and enhance Australia's international standing.

Internationalisation is now part of the Australian university system. Governments at all levels and institutions in all sectors accept a policy of internationalisation and recognise the benefits of broader internationalisation activities. Rhetoric and reality in Australia's internationalised universities are consistent with articulated, bipartisan Australian Government policy.

The possible exception is in respect of international exchanges for Australian students. While there is a recognition of the benefits of two way flows, numbers of outgoing students remain small. The agreements are in place, universities are setting themselves targets and the Australian Government in August 1996 committed funds to an International Awards and Exchanges Program.

Where Today and Where Tomorrow

After some hard lessons in some earlier phases, Australia has mature international student programs. There is regulation by the Australian Government and there are codes of practice from the AVCC and from Australia's Ministerial Council on Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA).

Australia is now host to 4% of the world's international student population (Kemp 1996, p. 3).

The most common reason international students choose Australia is for quality. IDP Education Australia, in commissioned research carried out for universities in 1995/96, found that 42% of students enrolling from overseas at universities in Australia, through IDP officers overseas, choose on the basis of the quality or standard or reputation of the university or course. For students who are already graduates, the number choosing on the basis of quality goes up to 52%.

After some hard lessons in some earlier entrepreneurial phases, Australia has mature offshore and distance education programs. Australian universities comply offshore with local regulation, offering internationalisation without imperialism. There is now a specific code of conduct from the AVCC covering offshore operations.

Australia's offshore and distance education builds on the long tradition of distance education within Australia. In 1996, international delivery of distance education involves new technologies.

International benchmarking in now necessary to evaluate the true quality of internationalisation in Australian universities.

In terms of the future, there are three challenges.

The first challenge is to continue to develop a vision of internationalised higher education, consistent with the Statement of Purpose of the Australian higher education system:

Australian universities, wherever their location, and whatever their selected profile, must enable their graduates to operate anywhere and in any sphere at a level of 'professionalism' consistent with best international practice, and in ways that embody the highest ethical standards.

NBEET (1992, p. 12)

This internationalised higher education is then available to international students, to Australian students and to Australian business and industry, engaging in an increasingly globalised economy.

The second challenge is to satisfy international demand for Australia's higher education:

• the total world population of international higher education students is forecast to grow from 1.49 million in 1995 to 1.78 million in 2000 (Blight 1995 p.29);
• Australia's share is forecast to grow from 3.3% in 1994 (Blight 1995 p. 9) to about 4% in 1996 (Kemp, 1996 p. 3) and to 5% in 2000 (Blight 1995 p. 9);
• internationalisation of Australia's universities will be a key ingredient in this growth;
• with 5% of the world population of higher education students, Australia will be host to 89,000 international higher education students in 2000;
• international students in 2000 will make up 13% of Australia's university population;
• offshore and distance education strategies will be required to supply Australian higher education to meet this demand; and
• new technologies will play a significant role in delivering Australia's higher education.

The third challenge is greater.

The international conference Universities in the 21st Century - Education in a Borderless World in Singapore in August 1996, organised by IDP Education Australia and the British Council, opened up the possibility of a new learning architecture:

• do new technologies, with their potential to reduce the costs of delivery, allow widespread borderless access, through partnerships, to an internationalised, quality higher education system such as Australia's, with its long tradition of education across vast distances?
• or is this access academic to that half of the world's population without electricity?