Running toward empty – comment by CEO Craig Robertson

When it comes to the good news in tomorrow’s national Budget we’ll be thanking iron ore once again for helping reduce our national government debt. This financial year the federal coffers are expected to be $20 billion richer than expected and debt will be forecast to come down quicker thanks to China’s ongoing demand for steel and faltering supply from competitor nations.

This miracle for the nation points the way for the resuscitation of our other miracle industry – international education. This week submissions close for responses to the proposed 10-year Australian Strategy for International Education 2021-2030.

International education is a classic trade struggle just like iron ore, except it’s for a service, there are lots of competitor nations and consumers can easily switch their preferences. International students can swap countries at little cost.

There are huge ancillary benefits attracting students to Australia. A world-leading public health response to COVID, superior health system, public safety, sun, sea and snow across the seasons and a relaxed lifestyle. Generous work conditions and high relative wages also help students sustain themselves while they are here.

A key question is whether these can stand-up while our borders remain closed for good public health reasons and we wait for immunity. Because much of the rest of the world is also supplying international education, even more than the Western economies which have been the traditional suppliers of international education.

It is within this competitive milieu that we need to contemplate the 10-year strategy. Apart from the ancillary and wage benefits, surely the product – the qualification – is key to continued success.

Iron ore production has not stood still. It has been transformed through automation, so much so that Australian mining is regarded as world leading. The same needs to be true for our qualifications, especially for the VET sector.

Even though the number of international students for VET has been strong, many people would be shocked to learn the bulk of courses are in business and leadership. TAFEs have a wider profile of skills courses but only account for 6 per cent of the total number of international VET students.

When opposition leader John Hewson proposed under Fightback to reduce trade tariffs, I recall him saying some manufacturers welcomed the chance to compete on the world stage while others still wanted protection. Business and leadership courses hardly buttress us against competitor countries.

We need to ask what unique features of VET qualifications will keep Australia in the international hunt. There are now qualifications in the VET system that do not allow for delivery to international students here in Australia and other qualifications that would be well received offshore, but the delivery requirements limit delivery to Australia. As far as I know, the Australian Industry and Skills Committee is yet to endorse one qualification based specifically on supporting the international education sector.

There are integrity concerns as well. How can it be that the same VET qualification can be delivered in a short space of time to domestic students but is delivered full-time and over an extended period for international students that even differences in learning attributes cannot explain away? And how does a competency behaviourist approach which too often falls short on underpinning logic and knowledge serve international students?

Despite the challenges looking ahead, this week we feature on our website the positive stories international education delivers.

Closed borders and the 10 years gives us time to look afresh at the product. In a decade iron ore is likely to still fuel infrastructure across the globe, but even that is finite. If China, just as one example, is powering its economy through steel and infrastructure then it’s likely doing the same with soft infrastructure, such as its own education and training. Even informal on-line learning is filling the void. We need to think about the education edge from Australia.

There is time, but there must be major reform. Quality providers such as TAFEs need to be trusted to represent the best of the Australian education approach and know-how and be allowed to create products and services to keep ahead of the pack.

The reputation of Australia’s VET system is finite but there is still time to think anew about the competitive role it can play in international education.