Commentary
More needed...
Governments at state and federal levels are encouraging more international students to undertake research degrees in Australia. In Victoria, the children of international research students attend school on the same basis as local kids – a huge monetary saving. Australia-wide, the Australian Postgraduate Awards Industry will soon be available for international students. I have even read that all Australian Postgraduate Awards (APAs) might be available to overseas students.
On the face of it this is a good thing. The more highly educated and diverse the research student population, the more innovative will be the research conducted. If the student experience is exciting and fulfilling, more students may decide to make their career in universities and research centres. International research collaboration will be enhanced through networks of former students.
Australia has been playing with the idea of internationalising higher education for a while, but not seriously. The Howard government’s underlying suspicion of immigration and desire to control who came here to study prevented any meaningful internationalisation. The new government’s plans seem to be more genuine.
However there is a difficulty. There are not enough scholarships for research as it is. Only about 20% of students doing PhDs get a scholarship. Recognising that this is a problem, the federal Labor government has agreed to double the number of APAs by 2012.
Although an improvement, it will nowhere near meet demand. Yet they are talking now about opening up the pool of applicants to international competition. Competition may be a good thing, but the thousands of talented and eager students prevented from undertaking research degrees due to a lack of funding might not see it that way.
We have already seen some very unbecoming and occasionally nasty ‘debate’ over recent years concerning the increase in universities of fee paying international students. Imagine the uninformed hullabaloo if international students are given free research places, while local demand remains high.
If we want more international research students (which we do), the answer is simple. Increase the numbers of APAs substantially and everyone will benefit.
