College Quarterly - Articles - Internationalization in Australia and Canada: Lessons for the Future

This paper examines the internationalization of postsecondary education in Australia and Canada. The author discusses the contextual similarities and differences between the two countries, the shifting rationale “from aid to trade” behind Australia’s internationalization attempts and some of the reasons for Australia’s success. Australia’s experiences offer Canada important lessons in the areas of immigration policies, quality assurance, student safety, support for international students, mobility opportunities for domestic students and internationalization of the curriculum at home. The author also discusses challenges that both countries will face as they attempt to maintain or enhance their internationalization efforts in the future. In October 2011, Canada’s federal government established an Expert Advisory Panel on International Education. The Panel published its final report in August 2012, arguing that international education is beneficial for all of Canada’s diverse communities and offering a number of suggestions for Canada to strengthen its international education strategy (Advisory Panel, 2012). The Panel (2012) defines internationalization as “the process of bringing an international dimension into the teaching, research and service activities of Canadian institutions” (p. viii), a definition which is very similar to Knight’s (2006) proposition that internationalization is “the process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose functions or delivery of postsecondary education” (p. 213). In the report, the panel compares the current state of Canada’s international education with that of other Western countries. One country that has been considered successful in terms of internationalization, and from whose experience Canada can learn, is Australia. International education is Australia’s third largest export, contributing $17 billion to the economy in 2010 (Clark, Trick & Van Loon, 2011). The contribution of international students to Canada’s economy in the same year was $7.7 billion, certainly considerable but lower than in Australia (Advisory Panel, 2012). In 2007, nearly 20% of Australia’s university seats were occupied by international students, compared to 7% in Canada (Clark et al., 2011). In 2009, international students accounted for between 15% and 48% of the student population at individual public universities in Australia (Shah & Nair, 2011). Besides having more international students, the pace of growth in Australia has also been higher. Between 1999 and 2004, international student enrolment in Australian institutions grew by 95%. Global growth during the same period was 43% (Adams, Banks & Olsen, 2010). In contrast, the growth rate in Canada between 1990 and 2001 was second last among all of the Organization for Economic CoOperation and Development (OECD) countries, although it has improved in recent years (McHale, 2010). The revenue generated by international College Quarterly Articles Internationalization in Australia and Canada: Lessons for the Future http://collegequarterly.ca/2014-vol17-num01-winter/shaw.html[7/6/2014 5:18:33 PM] students provides Australian institutions with an important source of funding. Approximately 15% of the revenue of Australian universities is made up of international student fees (Adams et al., 2010). During my investigation of the literature surrounding internationalization in Australia and Canada, I encountered few direct comparisons between the two countries beyond the enrolment numbers included above. Instead, most of the research focuses on one country or the other. As a result, what began as a quest to compare internationalization between Australia and Canada instead evolved into an examination of the lessons that Canada can learn from Australia’s efforts. In this paper I will discuss the contextual similarities and differences between Australia and Canada, the rationales behind Australia’s internationalization attempts, some of the reasons for Australia’s success, and lessons that Canada can learn in the areas of immigration policies, quality assurance, student safety and the need to move beyond viewing international students as a source of revenue.