courses | hecs/oldps | higher education home | higher education links
publications | issues | research  | scholarships | statistics | universities

Higher education report for the 2001 to 2003 triennium

• Protecting the interests of overseas students in Australia

• Return to contents

During the 1990s, Australia’s international higher education interests were firmly focused on the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, and Australia developed strong relationships in the field of education and training with countries in the region. DETYA has broadened its earlier approach, through three main strategies:

• the active consolidation of the relationships Australia already enjoys with regional countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Japan;

• an intensification of the relationship with other countries, such as China and India; and

• an examination of three regions which present significant future opportunities for Australia’s higher education industry: Europe, North America and South America.

In our immediate region, Australia has pursued a policy of building on existing strengths by pursuing dialogue and cooperative activity under Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with traditional partner countries. For example, in September 2000 a Joint Working Group meeting was held in Canberra between DETYA and the Malaysian Ministry of Education, to discuss education developments and consider a range of cooperative projects.

Australia has an increasingly strong, cooperative government relationship with China supported by high level visits and project activity, particularly in the higher education and vocational education and training sectors. Under the MOU on Cooperation in Education and Training between Australia and China, the Chinese Government recently examined the comparability of Australian and Chinese higher education qualifications. This provides a sound foundation for further education and training collaboration, especially in research, and academic and student exchange.

Australia has long-standing ties with many of the countries of the European Union (EU), which is Australia’s largest overseas market for services and second-largest source of foreign investment. The countries of the EU are also an important source of partner institutions for Australian universities, which have developed more than 700 agreements with institutions in EU member states. The Australia-European Union Seminar on Educational Cooperation was held in Brussels on 18–19 July 2000, to explore possible avenues for increased education cooperation. In addition to DETYA representatives, the Australian delegation included representation from the Commonwealth and State governments, the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (AVCC) and the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA). The seminar involved the exchange of information in areas such as quality assurance, the internationalisation of education, mutual recognition of qualifications and credit transfer, and sectoral links between vocational education and training and higher education.

North and South America also present the Australian higher education sector with significant opportunities for diversifying its international engagement in education and training. Australia is looking at present to a renewal of the MOU on Cooperation in Education and Related Training with the United States of America and is also promoting a deeper engagement with its USA Fulbright programme, including an Enrichment Seminar programme for the incoming 22 USA Fulbright scholars which will be conducted by the Australian-American Educational Foundation in February 2001. Australia hosted a Guest of Government visit by the Argentine Education Minister in June 2000, and Australian parliamentary delegations are scheduled to visit Mexico and Chile in January 2001.

Multilaterally, the Department seeks to diversify its area of engagement by participating in regional and international fora, including Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The focus of Australia’s participation in these fora is to facilitate increased market access to the education markets of our trading partners.

Under the APEC umbrella, DETYA is managing a project to identify measures affecting trade and investment in education services in the Asia-Pacific region. The project will examine all education sectors, and will inform Australia’s participation in the WTO services negotiations.

A new round of services negotiations under the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) commenced in early 2000. The Government is pursuing negotiations in the education sector in order to encourage liberalisation commitments from WTO members and gain greater access to key markets. The Australian negotiating position will reflect consultation with the Australian education and training industry.

top

top

Table 2.1 All overseas students by country of permanent home residence, 2000 (a)

1. The ‘Other’ categories within each country region comprise those countries, within each region, that have fewer than ten students.

Return to the Top of the Page

contact details  |  search  |  archive search  |  publications  |  site map  | subscribe
career information | education network australia (EdNA)  
australian education international | prime minister's web site 

Any comments or queries should be sent to: wwweditor@dest.gov.au

This page was last updated on Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Department of Education, Science and Training
Copyright © Commonwealth of Australia
DETST Web Site Privacy Statement
Disclaimer