Recently I attended the Parliamentary Friends of International Education event in Canberra hosted by the International Education Association of Australia.

The event, attended by government ministers, international education peak bodies and sector leaders, celebrated the return of international students to Australian shores. Importantly, it also acknowledged the rich social and cultural contribution international students make to Australia.

While these messages were uplifting and inspiring, there was also a feeling that we were speaking to the converted. Every person in the room, by the nature of their role, understands the amazing qualities of our international students and how they make our communities stronger.

Every one of us has seen the challenges students have overcome to pursue their Australian study dreams, and has been inspired by their ambition, courage and intellect.

Yet among the speeches delivered by dignitaries, one comment by Phil Honeywood, CEO of IEAA, has stuck with me – how do we strengthen our social licence to operate?

While this sounds academic, it boils down to this: how do we, the people in the room and in institutions across the country, share what we already know with our wider communities?

How can we, as a sector, give our students a platform to champion their achievements, so they are best positioned to thrive and deliver benefits back to their new and home communities?

I believe it comes down to three areas:

• Setting up students for success before they leave their home country and continuing that support through their journey.
• Helping employers understand the benefits international students bring to our global workforce.
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, celebrating the rich contributions international students make to all aspects of our communities.

Setting up students for success and staying by their side

IDP Education’s recent Emerging Futures 3 research highlighted that post-study work policies and programs are one of the most compelling factors influencing where international students decide to study. It is not just about helping students with study opportunities – it’s about what comes next – and students want to commit to staying in their study destination if the work experience is available for them. We have a role to play in supporting them on this journey.

While this research confirms what we know about welcoming policy environments helping to attract students to Australia, this is not enough to ensure successful student outcomes.

If students are lacking transparent and official guidance when choosing Australia as their study destination, they risk being trapped in courses that don’t suit their post-study goals, exposed to substandard agents or institutions, or in living arrangements that are expensive or inadequate. This can lead to financial and mental health pressures which, when you add being isolated away from friends and family into the mix, is cause for concern. My colleague Simon Emmett wrote about this recently.

The first step is making sure students are matched with the right course aligned with their career and long-term aspirations.

Part of the responsibility for this rests with agents. Institutions and agents must have credible, trusted processes embedded into their operations to ensure students gain entry to courses that challenge them, inspire them and motivate them.

IDP’s global size and established processes allow us to provide unbiased advice to students. Our education counsellors are not aware of commission details with our clients. In fact, last year we placed students into more than 11,000 courses in our six destination countries without any commission from an institution because those courses were the best fit for our students.

“More can and should be done to ensure students are placed into quality courses that match student needs”

While we understand not all agents can enjoy a model that separates commercial arrangements with institutions with the advice shared with students, more can and should be done to ensure students are placed into quality courses that match student needs.

Once students are placed in the right course, agents and institutions need to ensure students leave their home countries fully aware of the study, work, social and living environments they will experience.

Offshore and onshore co-hosted pre-departure briefings are one channel IDP uses, but there are many others. Our recently launched Thrive program is also helping foster a sense of connection and provides students with somewhere to turn to when in need.

Strong collaboration between agents, institutions and services is key.

Help employers understand the benefits international students bring to our workforce

While the research indicates the attraction of post-study work rights, there appears to be a lack of understanding among employers about how post-study work visas operate. There also seems to be a gap in understanding the wealth of skilled graduates among our already present international student communities.

A recent study on short-term graduate outcomes in Australia shows that international graduates often underperform domestic students in securing employment in Australia. Their pain points are mostly around lacking exposure to the Australian workplace and employers’ reluctance to consider international students due to a lack of awareness around visa status and concerns around language ability.

IEAA has been leading the charge to educate our industry. The Broaden Our Horizons campaign demonstrated the value international students bring to the workplace by creating a more diverse range of voices and perspectives at the table. Outside of the work of IEAA, there is more that can be done to advocate for international students with Australia’s employers.

Another positive example is the NSW Job Connect initiative by the NSW government that helps to improve the perception of international students as valuable contributors to the Australian workforce.

While institutions can do more to provide tailored career advice and support, a successful student outcome is a shared responsibility. Students also need to own the challenge of building their credentials and improving essential ‘soft’ skills.

As an industry, we need to recognise and address the unique challenges they face in a foreign job market compared to their domestic counterparts. Tailored guidance and support is crucial.

With the right support and guidance, coupled with students’ own proactive efforts, they are much more likely to achieve success in their career goals and improve their employability outcomes.

I hope the momentum I saw in the room in Canberra at the Parliamentary Friends event continues, and the sector can work to deliver a strong message to employers and bespoke support for students.

Celebrate the rich contributions international students make to all aspects of our communities

As a former international student myself, this hits close to home. When I look across the media, I see outstanding international students being celebrated for their creativity, innovation and courage.

Flicking through the Melbourne International Comedy Festival program, I note Dilruk Jayasinha is now a headline act.

Belle Lim, former president of the Council of International Students, is now a cancer researcher at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

The 2016 New Australian of the Year, Gary Lee OAM, is now a prominent voice for inclusion and diversity in Victoria.

When our community was hurting during the pandemic, international students made us stronger. Ralph Teodoro, originally from UAE, swapped his desk job for medical scrubs to help on the front line with Covid-19 testing in hard-to-reach communities. As did Divyangana Sharma from India, and many, many other international healthcare students.

“We have an opportunity to show international students that we are with them”

These are just a handful of exceptional international students who demonstrate the benefits that come from welcoming smart, ambitious people to our shores. But there are many more who don’t make the news.

The big question is, what now?

My call is for the Australian international education sector to continue to come together.

We have an opportunity to show international students that we are with them, and here to raise their profile with employers and the wider community.

Australia is a kind, welcoming and diverse community – thanks in part to our international students.

Let’s build on the positive momentum we are seeing as students return to our shores, and set up the systems, attitudes and environments that will help Australia be a welcoming and supportive home for international students for generations to come.

About the author: Jane Li is area director for Australasia for IDP Education.

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International students from low-income countries such as Iran are turning to extreme measures – such as selling their kidneys and homes – to access graduate study abroad.

Former graduate students have told The PIE News that expenses such as application fees, language tests along with flights and their first month’s rent are preventing talented scholars from studying abroad.

In a recent piece for Science, Ali Khaledi-Nasab, a former graduate of a US PhD program, said that he had almost sold his kidney to pursue his education.

Khaledi-Nasab, who is from Iran, was able to earn enough money to pay for language tests and application fees, securing him a place at a US institution.

However, the cost of flights, rent and a fee to bypass Iran’s two years of compulsory military service meant reaching the US was not possible.

“Iran always had issues with the world. The price of the dollar kept increasing and I had little money and I was a student, I couldn’t really work as much,” Khaledi-Nasab told The PIE.

“You can work for a whole year as a teacher, and still you can’t afford to pay for all of those fees. It’s enormous when compared to the local currencies.

“You can give up on education or take desperate measures”

“So what do you do? You can give up on education or take desperate measures.”

He put out an advertisement for his kidney (which is legal in Iran) and found a buyer. Fortunately a friend intervened before the operation could go ahead.

Mohammad Rezaee, who goes by the name Mostafa, is currently doing a PhD in data science at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He helped Khaledi-Nasab reach the US and get set up.

He told The PIE that others have considered kidney transfers. “I know another student, who wanted to sell his kidney. I got to know him in a library in our city,” he told The PIE.

Mostafa has had to make his own sacrifices. He and his wife decided not to have children so they could pursue their academic careers – they also sold their home.

Mostafa and his wife had worked hard to buy a small apartment which they sold to pay for the costs of studying abroad.

The property fetched them about $15,000. But just after the sale went through, sanctions from the US doubled the price of the dollar in Iran, leaving them with $7,500.

“With $15,000 we could afford for both of us, but not with the $7,500,” Mostafa told The PIE. So they went back to saving again.

“An experienced teacher makes $200 a month. Saving $250 for a language test is very difficult. You also need to save for the application fee, money for the first month.

“Many people don’t start, because at first you need to take care of this amount of money, and it can take several years, and you have to sacrifice many things,” he said.

The upshot is that talented scholars are often unable to continue to pursue their studies and fulfil their potential, according to Khaledi-Nasab.

“I know for sure that people are not going and pursuing their PhD. There are tons of people who forgo higher education, just because of these costs. Think about it. You have to shell out three or four thousand dollars, to go through the whole thing. How can you do it?,” he told The PIE.

“It’s almost impossible. You have to be somebody like me, who will go to extreme measures…

“I know for a fact there are a whole lot of people who would have made it to the US or UK, if it wasn’t for all of these upfront costs. And it gets even trickier if the person has a child. If you have a family of any sort, your problems are multiplied.”

“I know for sure that people are not going and pursuing their PhD”

Mostafa told The PIE that he has friends who, like him, have sacrificed having children as a result of this sort of pressure. However for some, a family is too much to give up in the pursuit of their education.

“Many people cannot sacrifice that much. They want a normal life, despite being talented,” he told The PIE.

“But when people are talented and they cannot find the way to continue their dreams, it makes them really depressed.”

These scholars are often of the highest calibre, according to Mostafa. Back home they might be doing work far below their ability.

“I know many students, who are much more talented and hard working than us, but they couldn’t afford it, and they are living in very bad conditions in rural areas.

“One of my friends came to the US this year. He is from a very poor rural area in Iran. I saved some money during these years and supported him and now he has started his PhD in physics. Without this support he could not have afforded it.

“He needed to work in a rural area as a shepherd.”

The graduate student was taking care of his parents who are very old.

“He is brilliant, extraordinarily good,” Mostafa said.

“But he could barely make enough money just for food for himself and his parents. So I believe universities in the US, Canada, and Europe can easily solve this problem… The best students are amongst very poor families, they cannot even think about applying.”

Ali Khaledi-Nasab spoke of the sense of hopelessness he experienced when he was unable to afford to start a PhD program.

“I was in a situation that was not of my making. I’d been trying my best, I had got a masters degree, I published a few papers.

“I did a lot of good work in Iran despite all of the difficulties. Then you reach a point where the problem is only money.”

He contacted universities to discuss support, but in some instances was told that his financial situation was his problem.

“That was really demoralising… at the same university you would go on their website, and they would have ‘diversity and inclusion and equal opportunity’. But this is not equal. I was from Iran.”

Khaledi-Nasab argued that for institutions to truly be diverse, these issues need to be addressed.

“I really was struggling back then. And honestly, still today, a lot of people are struggling. Women particularly… In countries like Afghanistan, Nigeria, for example, women have a lot of difficulties, and on top of that they have to shell out so much money, to begin to be considered for a graduate school,” he said.

“We talk about diversity and inclusion. You see these statements on every university website that you go to. Diversity means getting people from all over the world, and from different economic backgrounds… If you want to have more women in science, you have to make it easier for them.

“It’s harming the economic environment, much more than you think… not only do you not get the talent, but you don’t get people who have experienced, say, an African science environment.”

Khaledi-Nasab believes that institutions need to build more equity into the system to support students from low-income countries.

He argued this can be done by the lowering of application fees, the offering of more waivers, or the elimination of fees entirely for applicants from economically disadvantaged countries with weak currencies.

He also said that institutions should accept more affordable English proficiency tests and provide assistance with expenses such as travel and living costs for when students first arrive.

“There is a missed opportunity when students from diverse backgrounds are unable to access US higher education; both for the student and for US campus communities who benefit greatly from interacting with and learning from students from around the world,” Courtney Temple, IIE executive vice president and chief administrative officer told The PIE.

“Increasing access to education for students from low-income countries and backgrounds is critical”

“Increasing access to education for students from low-income countries and backgrounds is critical, and reducing economic or other barriers plays a key role there.”

IIE said it advocates for access and equity in higher education to provide global learning opportunities for all.

“With this in mind, IIE launched in March 2023 the Center for Access and Equity. Through the Center, IIE’s mission is to develop equitable practices in the higher education community to address these types of challenges, and enrich and expand international education, exchange, and opportunity.”

The Center for Access and Equity is set to leverage programs and partnerships that examine the intersection of international education with diversity, equity, inclusion and access.

According to IIE, it will also cultivate global learning to support engagement and understanding of individuals and communities and support access for underrepresented communities by examining and addressing structural inequities.

Joann Ng Hartmann, senior impact officer at NAFSA, told The PIE that US colleges and universities increasingly waive application fees for economically disadvantaged students that would include international students and that more affordable English proficiency test options are increasingly accepted.

“Many English proficiency test providers also provide waivers for test takers which would help alleviate the upfront financial cost of applying to US institutions,” Hartmann said.

“The State department offers the Opportunity Funds grants to students who are likely to receive financial aid from US schools but then lack funds to cover up-front costs.

“As we know, cost of education in the US is a barrier. And international students have signalled this as a concern. US institutions are cognisant of the costs of a higher education degree and have looked for ways to alleviate these costs with more scholarships for international students.

“Graduate students have the opportunity to receive assistantships which help defray costs once they enrol in their programs,” Hartmann added.

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The international education strategy for Scotland that the devolved assembly outlined in its 2021/22 program for government has still not been released, while a replacement for the Erasmus program has also been delayed.

The government, led by the Scottish Nationalist Party, said it would develop a new strategy for international education to “promote Scotland’s education offer globally, increase the number of international students, and maintain our links with the EU”, in the 2021/22 parliamentary year.

It said a reciprocal Scottish Education Exchange Programme – similar to the Taith program in Wales – would “support the international mobility of staff and learners”. Leaders also said the devolved parliament would “work to re‑secure Scotland’s access to the Erasmus + Programme”.

It is not clear why the two initiatives have been delayed – they were already behind schedule before Nicola Sturgeon quit as first minister in February. But, after the Scottish government reversed a decision to allocate £46m to colleges and universities “without warning” on May 3, there is pressure on the government – and its new leader Humza Yousaf – to release a plan on how it plans to fund higher education in Scotland.

Speaking on Good Morning Scotland on May 3, director of Universities Scotland, Alastair Sim, said the organisation was “very disappointed and obviously quite puzzled at this quite sudden abstraction of the resource”.

“We were looking forward to being able to invest in a way that would meet students’ needs. We are seeing students need a lot more help after the pandemic… We are investing so much money in trying to meet increased welfare and teaching needs,” he said.

The funding could also have helped Scottish institutions in their research competitiveness, which he said has been eroded as “research funding [has been] cut from Scottish government by 36% since 2014/15”.

“The Scottish government, they don’t really say it out loud, but I think they really are betting everything on growth in international students and that is reaching a point of enormous geopolitical risk,” he said.

“Scottish government is essentially forcing us to bet everything on one number on the roulette wheel”

A spokesperson from Universities Scotland told The PIE that the organisation is looking forward to the imminent publication of the Scottish government’s International Education Strategy, which it hopes “will recognise the significant benefits, socially and economically, that international education contributes to Scotland”.

“To cross-subsidise the underfunding of Scottish students and research, we now have more money coming in from international students than we do from teaching Scottish domicile students. That builds enormous risks that if there is another war, difficulties in relations with China, if UK government restricts immigration policy, this could collapse,” Sim said.

“By choosing to underfund the core teaching of Scottish students and choosing to underfund the core research infrastructure, Scottish government is essentially forcing us to bet everything on one number on the roulette wheel, and that’s got huge risks.”

HESA statistics from 2021/22 show that of the £1.59bn Scottish higher education generated in tuition fees, £1.03bn came from non-EU students. In 2020/21, non-EU students contributed £867m in tuition fees.

Sim appealed to authorities to prioritise investment in further and higher education in the next Scottish budget if the government is serious about Scotland “being a high skills and an innovation led economy”.

The government has said it is facing the most challenging financial environment since devolution and very difficult decisions across portfolios have to be made.

Dey highlighted that as a result of Brexit, Scottish universities have seen a 64% reduction in numbers of European students, which has “undoubtedly impacted on our universities”.

“The Scottish government welcomes the contribution that European and other international students make to our higher education sector, as well as to our society, our culture and our economy. They add diversity,” he said on April 27.

“Any proposals from the UK government to add more restrictive visa requirements for European and other international students would be deeply damaging to our world-class university sector.”

Following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, the Scottish government said in December 2020 it had “sought repeated assurance that the UK government will prioritise continued association” to the Erasmus program.

“The loss of Erasmus is huge blow. This is simply unacceptable and we are looking at alternative options,” the then Scottish universities minister Richard Lochhead said at the time.

In a statement to The PIE, Universities Scotland added that since Brexit ended access to Erasmus+, the Welsh government has delivered its two-way mobility Taith scheme, to the value of £65 million over four years, which is “thriving”.

“Universities will continue to offer students the opportunity to study abroad but this could be made significantly easier with a Scottish scheme,” the organisation said.

In February of this year, Jamie Hepburn – who is now minister for Independence in the Scottish National Party government – reiterated that the Scottish government remains committed to Erasmus+ and is creating a Scottish Education Exchange Programme “to support participants from across Scotland’s education system” in the interin.

Ministers were previously accused of “shelving plans” for the program in 2022, after admitting there was no timetable for consulting on it.

“This is a program for government commitment and will help maintain Scotland’s place as an outward looking, internationally connected destination for work and study,” Hepburn said in February.

“We are engaging with stakeholders from across the education spectrum, including higher and further education, schools (including early years and care), vocational education and training, youth work, adult education and sports. We are listening to the sectors and the needs of their learners and staff in order to ensure we create a program fit for Scotland.”

This is a statement the Scottish government repeated when asked by The PIE when the strategy and information on SEEP will be released.

“In practice, we now have international fees subsidising Scottish students – that carries a lot of geopolitical risk”

Universities Scotland noted that there is a “bigger issue around the unsustainable funding model that Scottish universities currently operate under”.

“In practice, we now have international fees subsidising Scottish students. That carries a lot of geopolitical risk and one we would like to see the Scottish government remedy by funding the sector sustainably,” the spokesperson concluded.

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The London-headquartered International Schools Partnership has announced a touring festival to promote international education to students across Latin America.

The private school provider, with some 70 schools worldwide, is planning a range of festivals across its schools in Latin America to expand knowledge and awareness to opportunities to study international.

With 11 schools in Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia catering to some 18,000 students, it will host five events in September welcoming higher education providers to share opportunities, master classes and taster sessions.

“South America is ready and these kind of initiatives are generating the necessary energy that is needed to start moving students to international education,” ISP’s regional head of Marketing & Communications for South America, Pablo Valenzuela told The PIE News.

Until now, similar non-profit events have been “pretty unusual” in the region, organisers say.

While the region is not comparable to Asia in demand for international education, interest in overseas study is growing, regional managing director for South America, Michael Bartlett, explained.

“[There is] more and more interest but frankly, much less knowledge of what the options are,” he said.

ISP has introduced the project to supplement its future pathways initiative, which aims to help students understand their future career options domestically, higher education, vocational education or in the workplace.

The chain of schools, which caters mainly to local populations rather than expat families, will host 30+ universities at the five festivals between September 25-30. Each event will also welcome competitor IB, international and other partner schools from the local areas.

“Typically our schools have done this on their own and hosted 10-12 universities,” Bartlett said.

While the ISP IB school in Quito sees around half of its graduating cohort continue to overseas studies, in Chile the proportion doing the same drops to 5%.

“Our school in Lima has a hundred students this year taking on some kind of international exchange, virtual or face to face. So the interest is definitely there,” he said.

“This is going to be brand new for schools in Chile”

It’s not clear how much the events could increase the 5% figure in Chile, Valenzuela continued, but it is hoped that students and families will have a better understanding of opportunities overseas.

“It’s a festival. It’s a little bit different. It’s not just a fair,” Valenzuela stated.

“We’re trying to make it more engaging for parents, for students, for teachers. This is going to be brand new for schools in Chile. And I think it’s going to be one of the countries where this would impact the most.”

The festivals will visit schools in Santiago in Chile, Lima in Peru, Quito and Guayaquil in Ecuador and Bogota in Colombia.

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The system of awarding additional points to visa applicants who have studied in regional Australia could be scrapped under new recommendations in a report released by the Department of Home Affairs.

The landmark review into the country’s migration system said that resettlement alone is not the answer to regional Australia’s challenges.

It comes as the network representing Australia’s regional universities continues to call for greater incentives to encourage students to enrol in institutions outside of the country’s major cities, including the creation of a “simplified and dedicated” pathway to residency and additional visa points.

Currently, students receive five points towards skilled work visas if they obtain a qualification from an institution in regional Australia, which the government classifies as any area outside of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

In a submission to the Universities Accord, the Regional Universities Network suggested that international students should receive more points than they already do towards skilled visa applications if they have studied in regional Australia, with extra points for applicants who remain there.

But the new report suggests this is unlikely to be adopted by the DHA as part of the migration review, a separate plan to the Accords.

The panel behind the publication recommended that states and territories should have “greater flexibility” to determine how to allocate permanent visas and, in conjunction with this, existing regional concessions like additional visa points could be removed.

Speaking at the national press club at the end of April, Home Affairs minister Clare O’Neil said that attempts to drive population growth in regional Australia via migration have “tended not to be successful”.

“We won’t be solving that problem through the migration system, but we’re ready to work with states and territories on this problem in a cohesive manner that will provide proper support to new entrants,” she said.

In its submission to the government’s higher education review, RUN said that a “two-tier ecosystem” had emerged among Australia’s universities, with a “small handful of capital city institutions” dominating across all areas. In 2018, regional Australia hosted 3% of onshore international students.

“Densely populated urban markets and legacies of considerable financial surpluses and bequests” allow universities in Australia’s major cities to “operate at a scale that is unachievable for many other universities, particularly regional universities”, the group said in its submission. It added that international students represent a “major opportunity” for regional communities facing labour shortages.

There are other incentives in place for international students to study regional Australia, including an additional two years of post-study work rights, providing they remain in regional Australia.

Writing to a separate parliamentary inquiry at the end of 2022, La Trobe university, which has four campuses in regional areas, said that having preferential post-study work rights has been “overwhelmingly positive”, with 10% of its international cohort at its Bendigo campus, compared to 1% prior to the introduction of the policy.

“Evidence has shown that the previous schemes have worked in raising awareness of the opportunities and resulted in students choosing regional Australia,” Alec Webb, executive director of RUN told The PIE. “Obviously this is a complex area and students make choices for a myriad of reasons, of which post study work rights, or pathways to permanent residence are just two.”

RUN has called for this regional differentiation in visa policy to remain, as well as suggesting further measures that would encourage students to choose universities outside of Australia’s major cities, including creating a clear pathway to residency for those who choose to do so.

RUN asked for more government support to promote the “unique socio-cultural benefits” of studying in regional Australia.

“Awareness is a big issue,” Webb said. “You don’t know what you don’t know and sometimes when people think of Australia they only think of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.”

“Sometimes when people think of Australia they only think of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane”

Individual universities outside of Australia’s major cities also want help to encourage more international students to consider going there.

La Trobe said that a lack of international flight connections is a “key obstacle” in attracting overseas students.

“While infrastructure requires time and money, through investing in regional infrastructure it will be possible to provide a boost to both sectors,” the university wrote. “In the interim, smaller-scale solutions such as subsidised transportation or subsidised pick-up from airports to regional destinations will go a long way to removing perceived obstacles with regional destinations.”

The University of Adelaide agreed that a lack of direct international flights was a disincentive for students to travel to South Australia, in its submission to the same inquiry.

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A city in Flemish Belgium has been revealed as the top Erasmus destination, as voted by representatives of the scheme’s student network  among other stakeholders – beating out multiple frontrunners across Europe. 

The accolade, which was launched in conjunction with the European Commission, was awarded to Ghent (Gent in Flemish) over Italy’s Padua, Toulouse in France, Valencia in Spain and Austria’s capital.

“Winning the Erasmus Destination of the Year 2023 has been an amazing experience,” said Yasmine Collier, one of Erasmus Student Network Gent’s local reps.  

“We’re thrilled to have our hard work recognised, and it has motivated us to continuously improve our mobility support,” she added. 

The local chapter of ESN was founded early on in its involvement with the Erasmus scheme – the first years of mobility in the city saw just 33 students. 

Ghent is increasingly gaining popularity in the tourism sector, due to its proximity to the capital and being less overwhelmed by crowds – four university colleges and two universities find their home in the city, and it is well known locally as a university town.

The destination of the year initiative was first introduced to identify “great practices of supporting student mobility at the city level”.

The ultimate aim is to showcase how local student associations – like ESN Gent – are attempting to make their cities “better mobility destinations”. 

Factors that were considered in the final decision included the collaboration with key HEIs, correspondence with the city itself and how the network ensures “high-quality” student mobility.

“All of us at ESN International are very excited… about how [this initiative] can inspire new practices among the different stakeholders involved in student mobility,” said Nikolina Đurić, a board member at ESN International.

“We’re thrilled to have our hard work recognised”

“For us, [it] represents an opportunity to celebrate the hard work that goes into creating a more diverse and inclusive global student community,” she continued. 

The decision to make Ghent this year’s destination of the year took place in April at ESN’s Generation Meeting, which was held in Bucharest, Romania. 

While the decision was not put down to a strictly student vote, it was made by representatives from the European Commission, EAIE, the Academic Cooperation Association, the Youth Forum and European Students’ Union.

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A pilot designed to help prospective international students learn about studying and post-work employability opportunities in select regional NSW locations has launched.

The Regional NSW Career Toolkit seeks to promote employability and wellbeing of students, as well as support the recovery of the NSW international education sector.

The free tool – launched by Global Study Partners and Successful Graduate, and funded by Study NSW – features an online career preparation course for students considering NSW, with initial support from two universities in the state – University of Wollongong and Charles Sturt University.

Speaking at a launch event on April 27, Nicole Zabbal, director for Student Services & Partnerships at Global Study Partners, said that the mechanism is designed to “help boost the employability of international students, promote their wellbeing and support the recovery of the New South Wales international education sector”.

“The toolkit seeks to provide access to reliable information for international students to make informed course selection choices. It is a technology enabled mechanism that helps decision making on education pathways that lead to potential employment in regional skilled shortage areas,” Zabbal continued.

On the GSP platform, study and career pathways are mapped out for the two identified sectors per region: comprising Allied Health and Information Technology in the Mid North Coast region and Education and Allied Health in the Illawarra region, she added.

Successful Graduate offers free access to the Regional NSW Career Preparation Course, which is designed to support students who wish to understand what it is like to study, and subsequently apply for work in these prioritised occupations in regional NSW.

“The toolkit seeks to provide access to reliable information for international students”

Managing director of Successful Graduate, Gordon Scott, noted that in recent years the “concept of employability has really bubbled to the surface of the value proposition of the education industry to students”.

Pointing to recent IEAA research that found finding jobs, career orientation and employability are key concerns for international students and graduates, Scott said the pilot has allowed the two institutions to provide both assurance to students, but also potentially be used to encourage students to enrol.

“By working together with GSP and the broader course search function, there is an opportunity to develop this online training course in a version that will suit different institutions and different academic disciplines right across the country,” he noted.

“That’s the key part that we’re very excited about, and we’re keen to make that happen initially in New South Wales.”

ISANA International Education Association Inc is also supporting the project.

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When she took charge of a boarding school in the middle of a pandemic, Kathy Crewe-Read understood that students, both domestic and international, are not just there to perform well academically – they are under her care. She chats to the PIE about the Bishop’s Stortford College’s growing international population.

In a quiet corner around 30 minutes outside of London lies Bishop’s Stortford College. On the surface, it seems like a well-performing private institution, with the option to board and very much for local pupils to prosper.

This isn’t the case, according to its head, Kathy Crewe-Read. She tells The PIE that the international cohort at her school sets it apart from its competitors – and its efforts to continue recruiting internationally too.

“Around 50% of the international population is from the Far East; China, and Hong Kong. We’ve also got a good smattering of the whole of Europe – some Scandinavian, Italian, Spanish, Lithuanian – Eastern European countries too; even some from South America,” she notes.

Last year, her school was one of a large number in the UK to take on some Ukrainian students amid the tumultuous war in the region.

Crewe-Read explained that six were brought in, all staying with families in the local town – and all studying free of charge.

One agency the school works with also brought in one more through its own Eastern European Scholarship program – who is in boarding – and what’s more, all domestic and international boarders are fully integrated.

Crewe-Read tells The PIE she hadn’t seen such high levels of integration anywhere else – especially as the boarding houses all have day pupils allocated to them.

“It means that the day pupils and international borders particularly completely integrate because they’re all in the same space during the daytime; they’re integrated when they go to lessons, which means that the whole of the community benefits.

“The international boarders benefit from full integration – and the British pupils benefit from having a more diverse community. So it really works well. I hadn’t seen that at another school, and when I came here I thought, that’s masterful,” she says.

In terms of that integration, it runs all the way to how the students look to move on from the school. With a relatively new and completely separate careers division, international students are “well-looked after” just as the domestic students are, with many applying to continue their stay in the UK through university study.

The school recently started working with Study Partners to expand its capacity sending students abroad for university.

“Last year a couple of students went to American universities – the year before we got one into an American university ourselves, but I think it’s about capacity.

“We have a new partnership with a school in South Korea”

“The careers department emails gave one-to-one support to every student through the UCAS process – and we’ve got 130 children in the sixth form each year. So the decision to use them, while about capacity, worked really well for us last year.”

The recruitment side for international students is extremely active. Crewe-Read champions its work with agents especially, with the team consistently attending events and fairs around the world – with the school’s sixth form head having recently joined a delegation to Nigeria, and its involvement in the Boarding Schools’ Association.

“We have a new partnership with a school in South Korea that sends some year seven students each year. And we also have an Argentinean group who go to our summer school,” she says.

The international summer school, which launched last year under the oversight of the school’s head of international relations, was labelled an “overwhelming success” with over 300 students in attendance – and something the school hopes to continue to grow.

“We’ve also been approached by a few schools in Ghana where we’ve been over recruiting,” Crewe-Read notes, as well as a partnership in North America that is in the early stages of talks.

The school’s language exchange programs are also a key part of the school’s international strategy, with regular exchanges in Spain, Crewe-Read says, and the consistent presence of international staff on campus also boosts that learning.

“Nobody gets lost – that’s fundamentally important”

“It oughtn’t just be the student body that is diverse – and of course, you can’t really control your staff insofar as you always take the best person off the list of applicants – but we’ve been really lucky and we have got a very diverse staff for where we are.”

On the side of students, though, Crewe-Read’s biggest takeaway from her time at Bishop’s Stortford is the way students are able to effectively interact with each other – whether they’re domestic or international.

“I was chatting to a younger pupil actually, about something that was going on in his life that he wasn’t very happy about. I said, ‘oh, are you going to talk to your housemaster about that when you get back to the boarding house?’ and he said, ‘no, no, no, it’s not that serious. I’ll chat to the upper sixths about it’.

“It’s sort of the school version of I’m not going to tell Mum and Dad, but I’ll talk to my big brother. It comes back to that idea that nobody gets lost – that’s fundamentally important, even in a smaller school like ours.”

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