MEDIA RELEASE

$113 MILLION TO STRENGTHEN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

13 May 2003 MINBUD 24/03

A major package of Commonwealth initiatives worth more than $113 million will support and expand Australia’s vital international education industry and is a key feature of this year’s Budget.

International education contributes significantly to our national income, promotes innovation, develops people-to-people links and underpins our competitiveness, trade, skilled migration, diplomacy and national security.

Worth more than $5 billion in national income, education is now our third largest services export. As an export industry, it is bigger than wool and close to wheat.

It contributes, directly and indirectly, about 43,000 jobs for Australians.

The comprehensive package underlines the vision of the Howard Government in recognising the broader opportunities that flow to the nation as a whole from the education and training of overseas students.

It also reflects a systematic, ‘whole-of-government’ approach to supporting this key industry.

International students provide the foundation for strong foreign and trade relations, as well as research and scientific exchanges and collaboration that are vital to our continued economic growth and development.

The Government’s package, to be introduced during the next four years, will:

• further enforce measures assuring the quality and integrity of education providers in Australia that enrol overseas students ($5.1 million);

• increase promotion and government to government work in new overseas countries to further develop export opportunities ($41.7 million);

• support four International Centres of Excellence in education, science and innovation at Australian universities or consortia, and support existing international activities of the Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism ($35.5 million);

• establish the Endeavour Programme of scholarships and fellowships to attract high performing students from around the world to Australia, and provide Australian language teachers with short-term overseas fellowships ($7.9 million);

• establish a new National Language Centre to boost the language and business cultural skills level of Australian exporters, business, professionals and the tourism industry ($4.6 million).

• explore and develop with industry a self-regulatory framework to enhance quality assurance for international students studying offshore ($10.4 million).

Additional funding for the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), announced separately in the Budget, will further support the drive to boost international education by ensuring the integrity of the student visa programme. 

The measures will be welcomed by overseas students considering the many opportunities offered by Australian providers, both in-country and offshore. In 2002, about 280,000 overseas students were studying with Australian education providers in Australia and overseas.

Australia already has the third largest number of international students of English speaking nations and this number has the potential to almost double over the next decade.

The sector also contributes significantly to Australian tourism earnings, with around 16% of tourism expenditure coming from visitors whose primary reason for visiting Australia is education. In addition, each student averages 4.5 visits from family during their studies in Australia.

The measures outlined today will help Australia’s education providers to diversify their services and tap into other markets and enable more students from around the globe to study in Australia and in Australian institutions overseas.

These new commitments will also strengthen measures already in place to regulate the integrity of providers both onshore and offshore to ensure that Australia’s reputation in the international marketplace remains high.

The measures include:

The Endeavour Programme

The Endeavour Programme will showcase the excellence of Australia’s higher education sector by providing scholarships for international students to come to Australia. The Endeavour Programme will comprise a combination of new and existing awards:

• a total of 30 new awards will be offered each year for high-achieving overseas students to come to Australia for six months as part of a postgraduate or postdoctoral degree, and up to 140 Australian language teachers will be assisted to go overseas on short-term fellowships (worth $7.9 million);

• Australia-Europe scholarships – offers up to 15 scholarships each year for high achieving European students to undertake postgraduate education or research in Australia for up to 12 months;

• Australia-Asia awards – offers 20 high achieving Asian students study opportunities in Australia for up to three years;

• international postgraduate research scholarships scheme – offers 330 scholarships each year to high achieving international students to undertake postgraduate degrees in Australia; and

• in addition, and outside the Endeavour Programme, a new income-contingent loan scheme will be established to assist Australian university students to study abroad for one or two semesters of their degree. Overseas Fee HELP (OS-HELP) will offer full-time undergraduate students in Commonwealth supported places at public higher education institutions loans of up to $10,000 to finance their overseas study. OS-HELP will assist students with travel and living expenses while overseas. In 2005, a total of 2,500 OS-HELP loans will be available, increasing to a total of 10,000 loans per year by 2008.

International Centres of Excellence

Seed funding of $35.5 million over four years will be provided to establish four International Centres of Excellence at Australian universities or consortia, covering Asian and Pacific Studies and Diplomacy, Mathematics Education, Water Resources Management, Sports Science and Administration, and support the international activities of the existing Cooperative Research Centre on Sustainable Tourism. The Centres of Excellence will create and extend international linkages and showcase Australian excellence in education, science and innovation.

National Language Centre

Seed funding of $4.6 million will be provided over two years to establish a new National Language Centre. The Centre will address the need for Australian exporters and other business, professionals, teachers and the tourist industry to quickly acquire specialist language and business culture training, and will improve Australia’s relations and negotiations with major trading partners.

DIMIA measures

The Government has committed $7.6 million in 2003-04 to support the overall international education package. Funding for future years will be determined following a review of DIMIA’s business processes and costs prior to the 2004-05 Budget. DIMIA initiatives include a new professional development visa, a new student guardian visa, additional staff at strategic overseas locations to strengthen integrity, strengthened monitoring and enforcement activities onshore, growth of the Working Holiday Maker scheme and expanded electronic lodgement arrangements for processing student visa applications.

Ensuring quality and integrity of education providers in Australia

This measure will protect Australia’s international education sector through strengthened compliance and enforcement activities to ensure that rogue providers do not damage Australia’s excellent reputation as a reliable and high quality education exporter. It will provide ongoing funding and an additional $5.1 million over four years for this work to be carried out by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST).

Assuring Australians provide quality education services offshore

Approximately 20% of international students study Australian courses offshore. This measure will provide $10.4 million over four years for the DEST to work with industry in exploring and developing a solid self-regulatory framework to protect Australia’s international reputation for offshore education. The ESOS Act, which regulates education services provided to students in Australia on student visas, does not apply to offshore or online provision. This initiative will provide funding for industry self-regulation, independent audits, highlighted by a quality brand to indicate an industry-recognised seal-of-approval.

Expanded AEI activities

AEI is the Australian Government’s unique International Education Network which promotes Australia’s international education and training industry through a wide range of activities.

International education facilitates world class teaching, exposure to leading edge research, development of cross-cultural and language skills and a more outward looking workforce responsive to global change.

These measures will provide greater benefits to students and education providers and will provide a policy framework to ensure that the education export sector in Australia continues to grow as a sustainable, diverse, high quality and highly valued industry.

For further information:

Dr Nelson’s Office: Ross Hampton 0419 484 095

Dept of Education, Science & Training: Jane Smith 0412 973 411

Department of Education, Science and Training Budget at a Glance - International

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