At the beginning of the year, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews wrote a letter to the National Tertiary Education Union promising to demand a federal government review of university English-language requirements amid concerns that many international students were struggling to participate in class and complete assignments, as well as placing undue strain on teaching staff:
“International students are a vital part of Victoria’s education system but it’s concerning that some students are enrolled in courses without adequate English language skills to complete them,” he said.
Academics, tutors and students say some international students are struggling to understand instructions in class, complete assignments and communicate with other students.
They say English standards have been set too low and can be bypassed by enrolling in bridging courses…
The union is calling for a review of the English standards required for student visas and those set by universities…
The Premier’s letter follows a sharp lift in international student numbers, which have nearly doubled from 332,356 in March 2013 to 612,825 as at March 2019:
As shown in the next table from the Department of Education, the majority of international student growth has occurred in Melbourne and Sydney, whose numbers have ballooned by 125,393 (396%) and 100,532 (345%) respectively since 2000:
A fortnight ago, federal education minister, Dan Tehan, announced that the Coalition Government would tighten rules around English standards:
The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, the independent regulator of universities, recommended to Mr Tehan in March that tougher English language standards be applied to academic foundation courses that provide foreign students with a pathway into enrolment at universities… the regulator also advised that monitoring of universities’ compliance could be sharpened, including by forcing them to “record, in detail, the basis on which a student met the required English language entry standard”…
Mr Tehan is said to be supportive of the changes and the Department of Education is now developing advice for him on how they would operate…
And yesterday, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) announced that it would audit more than 55 English-language course providers to ensure they are meeting tougher government requirements:
The providers will be scrutinised for their compliance with national standards that were tightened from 2018, requiring proper measures to demonstrate students’ outcomes are adequate for the higher education programs they are entering…
“As part of this, the agency will systematically go through provider by provider (and there are about 55 providers that offer ELICOS courses) and will be assessing those courses against the strengthened ELICOS national standards,” the spokeswoman said…
Amanda Muller, a senior lecturer responsible for student language development at Flinders University, said the tightening of ELICOS standards was “entirely needed”…
She said there was pressure on providers to produce results for their customers in the smallest amount of time possible…
If the federal government was genuinely interested in addressing the problems pervading Australia’s universities, it would task the Productivity Commission (PC) to undertake a warts-and-all review of the international student industry to determine whether it is maximising net benefits for Australians, in addition to tasking the PC with providing recommendations for improvement.
Australia badly needs a holistic assessment of the international student industry from a respected and impartial organisation like the PC. Only then will policy be calibrated to benefit all Australians, rather the education industry, who are treating international students as cash cows to be milked for profit.
More broadly, Australia must remove the link between international students studying at university and gaining permanent residency. Let educational institutions compete for international students on the basis of the quality of their education, not as export businesses offering a pathway to backdoor immigration. The whole sector has become bloated on an unsustainable model of linking tertiary education to residency.
