DE LA SOCIEDAD DEL CUELLO CON LA GUILLOTINA O DE LA ITAIPÚ

Once international students have chosen a host country and university, benefits at both the economic and socio-cultural levels follow. As stated by Access Economics (2009):

Each international student (including their friends and family visitors) contributes an average of $28,921 in value added to the Australian economy and generates 0.29 in full- time equivalent (FTE) workers. Overall, this sees international students, and the associated visitation from friends and family contribute $12.6 billion in value-added. This is based on student expenditure of $13.7 billion and visiting friends and family expenditure of $365.8 million. (p. i)

International student fees are an integral part of Higher Education, as income from international students’ fees are needed for a number of purposes: to fund infrastructure and research; to cover staff salaries; to subsidise the enrolment of domestic students; and to pay for other goods and services used by onshore students (Beaton-Wells & Thompson, 2011; McKenzie, 2008). As pointed out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2011) “many educational institutions rely on the income from full-fee paying international students to assist in the provision of quality education to all students, both international and domestic” (p. 1). As can be seen from Figure 1.2, different institutions depend on international students’ income to varying degrees.

As Higher Education is a competitive industry, universities that rely heavily on international student income need to compete with each other, as well as with other host countries, to attract international students to guarantee the continued income stream for the institution (Paige, 1990).

Figure 1.2: Percentage of income from international students for Australian universities

(Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2008) International student fees have also helped bridge the gap between base funding for Higher Education provided by the Australian government and the individual institutions’ total expenditure (see Figure 1.3) (Group of Eight, 2011). In their report, it was argued that current funding has created a situation “where quality standards are determined by available funds” (p. 9). Current funding, it was argued, covers only teaching and learning activities and is not enough

to provide all the services and infrastructure required for Universities to provide a positive student experience. Therefore, many Universities have been using the fees from enrolled international students to supplement base funding in order to cover expenditure, and to meet quality standards. Group of Eight (2011) further added that “by 2009, international student fees were equal to half of total base funding and 80 per cent of Commonwealth contributions…international fee income has been above 100 per cent of [domestic] student contributions since 2004” (p. 17).

Figure 1.3: Student fees and base government funding (Group of Eight, 2011, p. 17)

A change in this market would have a significantly detrimental effect on universities that rely heavily on revenue from international students (Group of Eight, 2011). In Australia in 2009, there were more than 600,000 onshore international students, of whom more than 200,000 were enrolled in Higher Education. By 2010, there had been a decline in commencement and enrolment numbers (see Table 1.1) (Phillimore & Koshy, 2010).

Table 1.1:

Data Showing Number of International Students’ Enrolment from 2009- 2010

Enrolments, Year-to-date Commencements, Year-to-date

Sector YTD July

2009 YTD July 2010 Growth on YTD July 09 YTD July 2009 YTD July 2010 Growth on YTD July 09 Higher Edu 194,707 214,292 10.1% 80,877 85,413 5.6% VET 196,554 199,171 1.3% 96,131 87,889 -8.6% ELICOS 97,009 80,288 -17.2% 65,430 50,429 -22.9% Schools 25,999 23,290 -10.4% 11,598 9,867 -14.9% Other2 28,032 28,373 1.2% 21,782 21,686 -0.4% Total in Aus 542,301 545,414 0.6% 275,818 255,284 -7.4%

Source: Phillimore and Koshy (2010)

This decline has been attributed to several factors, including:

 A stronger Australian dollar;

 The impact of the global financial crisis on demand for places;

 Increased competition from other countries seeking international students, in particular the USA;

 Reputational damage caused by highly publicised attacks on international students;

 The collapse of some private colleges;

 Significant changes to student visa rules and skilled migration; and

 The [then] current election campaign discussion about immigration and population issues. (Phillimore & Koshy, 2010, p. 5)

This decline in numbers has meant that IE is currently Australia’s fourth export, “from $17.995 billion in 2009/10…to $14.711 billion in 2011/12” (Connelly & Olsen, 2012, p. 1), which impacts upon the Australian economy in several ways. According to the Deloitte Access Economics (2011) report, “the downturn of international student enrolments over time and

estimates that in net present value terms the reduction in GDP over the 2010-2020 modelling period will be $37.8 billion... Australian employment will fall by over 45,000 through to 2020 due to the direct and spillover effects from international student enrolments” (p. vi).

Apart from the economic benefits of having international students, there are also reported cultural and academic benefits of international students in Higher Education. These include bringing a cultural mix to the university student population: many different individuals who can act as cultural carriers of resources and links between cultures, which can lead to decreased hostility, discrimination and prejudice amongst cultures (Bochner, 1986; Carroll & Ryan, 2005; de Wit, 1995; Gudykunst, 1998; Kell & Vogl, 2008; Mahat & Hourigan, 2007; Sam, 2001). Trice’s (2003) study reported a number of benefits of international student enrolment, including work experience, overseas connections for research partnerships, high academic quality, and an enhanced reputation for the university internationally. Similarly, research conducted by Whitt et al. (2001) found that international students brought increased cultural awareness and opportunities for domestic students to understand how to work in a multi-cultural world. This finding supported earlier research by Fallon and Brown (1999), who reported that 96% of their participants agreed that international students helped staff and UK domestic students to learn about other cultures. A total of 22% of the participants also agreed that international students provided them with overseas business links and 33% reported that international students provided them with overseas research links. Many studies have also supported the view that international students reportedly help domestic students learn how to work in a multi- cultural society (Trice, 2003; Volet & Ang, 1998), an invaluable skill in a globalised world (Brustein, 2007; Rose-Redwood, 2010; Trice, 2005).

1.1.4 Proposed causes of student attrition