INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation has recently released its report on Australia’s International Research Collaborations.  It points in the right direction.

International collaboration in research is on the increase, yet in order to keep up the pace, Australian researchers must be better supported in building their international connections.  The Report has a number of recommendations directed at making it easier for researchers to come to Australia through more supportive visa arrangements. 

There is also a real need for Australian researchers to build collaborative links in countries such as China and India, where research capacity is increasing rapidly (China), or likely to over the next decade (India).  The Reps’ Report endorses this, advocating the revitalisation of the science counsellor positions in embassies, and ensuring they are located in China and India, in addition to Washington and Brussels.

The somewhat ad hoc and small scale funding support for international research collaboration is a recurring theme in the Report.  For example, the future of the International Science Linkages program, currently under review, needs to be clarified and, if necessary, a successor program put in place.

What impact do parliamentary reports have on the public agenda?  They often deal with significant issues, and give them an airing.  It now rests with the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, and Cabinet, to make some significant changes.  (4/7/10) 

QUALITY ASSURANCE

The AUQA auditors met at the chilly Gold Coast.  Going into the meeting I was hoping to get a clearer idea of what is happening with the issue of national standards, and where we stand on AUQA’s successor, the organisation known as TEQSA. 

The discussion on standards was a big improvement on the conversation at the comparable meeting in 2009.  Meaningful standards are not easy to define.   The government focuses on five different standards: provider accreditation, defined in the National Protocols;  the qualification (we are waiting on the Australian Qualifications Framework revamp); research (the ERA agenda); and information available to students (the My University website). 

The fifth standard centres on teaching and learning, and that is what most of the discussion has been about and was about today. Not much has been resolved, and it will not be for some time, such is the complexity of the issue. 

The conversation, however, is more grounded than it was before.  There are fewer white knights charging in.  Instead there are principles evolving around the need for clarity about the purpose of the exercise, the information needed to judge standards, the significance of adjusting to risk, and the importance of transparency.  It might not sound much, but to me it’s progress.

I know little more about plans for TEQSA.  A likely election later this year will slow the government down even more. I do know that AUQA will now continue in place until 2012, enabling it to complete the current cycle 2 university audits.  This makes sense. Unfortunately I couldn’t attend the last session of the day, when TEQSA was discussed, as I had to get to the airport.  (30/6/10)

RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS IN CHINA

We have been exploring new ways of building significant research collaborations in China.  A delegation of 18 Flinders staff recently spent a few days in Hunan University and Central South University, two elite ‘985’ universities located in Changsha, Hunan Province. 

One day in each was devoted to seminar presentations; the second day to one-on-one meetings between staff with similar research interests.  The events were the result of the significant groundwork put into establishing the connection by a number of staff especially Prof Chris Franco and A/Prof Zhang Wei from medical biotechnology.

As usually happens, our Chinese hosts entertained us with excellent banquets and convivial toasts.  Hunan, the home province of Chairman Mao, is known for its delicious hot food.

We have agreed on the next steps, and have identified key individuals in each university to take responsibility.  (10/6/10)

SHANGHAI EXPO

Only China could mount an event of the magnitude of the Shanghai Expo. It took me and my colleagues a day to walk around the main site, with a few brief food and drink stops and a visit to just a single pavilion. 

One hundred and forty or so pavilions are spread across the Pudong and Shanghai site.  A couple are as big as the MCG.  Each is designed to outdo the other with its inventiveness, elegance, and statement about the future. 

The crowds flocked to the imposing bright red China pavilion; day tickets were unavailable shortly after the opening in the morning.  Waits of one, two or three hours were common for some pavilions.  A young man stood holding a sign saying the queue for the Saudi Arabian pavilion was seven hours, and still people joined it.

The Australian pavilion is mixed.  The design of the building is bold and stunningly beautiful.  The ochre shades of the rusting steel skin, with iron ore rich rocks scattered around the base, make a strong and distinctive statement. 

We queued in cattle pens for half an hour to get inside.  Once in the foyer, a mass of people shuffled up a sloping ramp, either side of which were murals and models depicting aspects of Australian history.  Despite the serious information it was presenting, it had an edgy feel.  A photo showed Kevin Rudd talking to an indigenous women wearing a tee-shirt with ‘thanks’ emblazoned across the front.    A couple of puppets of television news-hounds stood watching.  Someone had a sense of the ironic.

The moving crowd came to a halt after about 50 metres.  A few young Australian attendants amused the crowd with their Chinese instructions.  We waited, shoulder-to-shoulder, in a claustrophobic corridor, before filing into the main theatre inside the pavilion. 

The audio-visual display was impressive, with circular screens appearing from beneath the floor accompanied by loud music.   Three cartoon children, one white, one indigenous and one Asian, exchanged views about their plans for the future.  Australia, by implication is the land of opportunity for the young. 

The display then was overtaken by digital designs and flashy photography highlighting Australia as a tourist destination.  The audience started leaving two or three minutes before the end.  I got a sense the message, whatever it was, had not grabbed them. 

Leaving the theatre we walked down a sloping corridor, with names of sponsors on the walls, into the foyer, past the gift shop, and out into the sun.  The experience dissipated quickly. 

Afterwards we talked over a Nescafe (the best we could find at the time) about the impact of the pavilion and shared a sense that the message needed to be clearer.  We, of course, thought it should more emphatically bring out the attractiveness of Australia’s education assets, as well as being a tourism destination.

The previous day 500,000 people visited the Expo.  The visitors to the Australian pavilion were overwhelmingly Chinese.  They took numerous photos.  I hope they came away with a positive feel about Australia  (6/6/10).

APAIE CONFERENCE

A short video summary of the APAIE conference held at the Gold Coast has been posted on YouTube.  APAIE stands for Asia Pacific Association for International Education, by the way (5/6/10).

KNOWLEDGE BASED DEVELOPMENT

The first issue of the International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development has been published.  A sample of the journal, with the papers from the first issue, is available on-line. (25/5/10)

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ENGLISH

My presentation on “International students’ language skills: the needs of knowledge based development and global citizenship” at the NEAS Conference in Sydney (14/5/10).

MASTERS PROGRAM HEADLINE

Odd headline for an article on Flinders programs with Nankai University: ‘Just don’t mention the Tiananmen Square massacre’ (5/5/10)

FUTURE WORKFORCE

I have only just managed to read Skills Australia’s Australian Workforce Futures: A National Development Strategy, which was released in February.  Much attention was given to discussion of the proposed Skilled Occupation List, as this will be significant for international students wanting to stay on in Australia after completing their awards. 

The main focus of the Report, however, is about lifting workforce participation and productivity.  It advocates an increase in tertiary education enrolments of 3% per annum until 2025, which would, of course, cost the government to implement.  About $660 million per annum, to be precise.  (26/4/10)

A SMARTER ESOS

Bruce Baird’s final report, Stronger, Simpler, Smarter ESOS: Supporting International Students, is now available.  Its observations on problems facing international students in Australia are generally well founded.  So too are the recommended changes to the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act 2000. 

Inevitably, though, the legislative changes will be blunt instruments, adding to the workload of numerous educational institutions, and not always zeroing in on the real targets of complaints and the problem organisations within the sector.  But it is hard to see how it could be done differently. 

In the end, we are looking for improvements in the quality of international education across the sector.  The gains for the education providers will be more satisfied students, and this will enable Australian education to remain competitive internationally.  Some of our competitors have seen Australia’s woes as presenting an opportunity for them.  It will be a short-term advantage.  None have national legislation in place to protect international students, nor the mechanisms  and data for understanding how international students cope with their experiences.  It is generally left to the institutions, or local jurisdictions.

Government reports on international education can sometimes sound patronising; this one doesn’t.  It acknowledges the openness of the sector and the willingness of students and others to express their views frankly and without fear.  Baird also acknowledges that ‘the majority of providers are doing the right thing’. 

The ESOS Act was reviewed a few years back, and many in universities put in a sustained effort to ensure that the needs of both governments and education providers were met.  Since the election of the Labor government we have been working our way through a raft of new government proposals, and so the response to the Baird report has exhibited signs of sector-fatigue.

There are many Taskforces all reporting on the international student experience, and all dealing with much the same kinds of issues.  This one has a hard edge, because it will result in detailed changes to an Act.  The report by the Council of Australian Governments is circulating in draft format, and should be out soon.  (20/3/10).

TRANS PACIFIC TRADE PARTNERSHIP

“Pacific Rim nations consider trade deal”. Officials from eight Pacific Rim countries meet in Australia this week for negotiations which could potentially reshape regional trade relationships.

The 5-day talks, which begin in Melbourne today, bring together senior diplomatic officials from Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States. The discussions are expected to set the framework for negotiations on the Trans Pacific Partnership or TPP which could in the future include the major economies of China, Japan and South Korea and key Southeast Asian nations.

Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Professor Dean Forbes, deputy vice-chancellor from Flinders University, in South Australia (15/3/10)

THE 2010 INTERGENERATIONAL REPORT

A few weeks back the Government released Australia to 2050: future challenges. The 2010 intergenerational report. Despite its origins in the Treasury, it paints an impressive big picture view of where Australia is, and might continue to be, heading.  The challenges facing us include an ageing population, escalating health care costs, and yet-to-be managed climate change.  Increasing labour productivity is central to long-term economic strength.

The Report is, not surprisingly, clearly tied into the Government’s current agenda, and its future intentions.  In that sense it is a Government positioning statement, seeking to persuade us that policies are being forged for the present but with an eye clearly fixed on the long-term future.

I inevitably focused on the Report’s views on education, universities and the knowledge economy.  There is not much there other than figures on funding for higher education and an acknowledgement that improved education participation is important to productivity.  There is no mention of international education at all, and only an occasional nod to immigration. 

Overall, it’s a Report built around some of the main statistical measures of the economy, and projections forward.  There is a lot of linear thinking but relatively little vision, and not much nuance.  Perhaps that is why there has been little interest in the media since the launch of the Report.  (13/3/10)

WASHINGTON DC, 2010

The Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) annual meeting was held in Washington DC this year.  It was my first.  Several colleagues had told me the AIEA hosted the most informative discussions of international education matters in American universities.  Based on what I heard in DC, I am inclined to agree.  Australian Education International in Washington, primarily Yvonne Oberhollenzer and John Hayton, had organised the program for six senior international education managers from Australia.

The snow over the previous week or two had been the heaviest in a century.  It remained piled on the side of the roads, slowing traffic and confining pedestrians to narrow channels on the footpaths.  Having experienced a long, hot Adelaide summer, the coldness was refreshing, and it was not too difficult to walk the streets, despite the risks from the slippery ice (although Kim Beazley may have a different view).

I thought the presentations on the outreach activities of American universities were well informed; they have good financial support, but also have a fair amount of experience in these matters.  Discussion on reform movements in the US, paralleling the Bologna process, revealed the barriers inhibiting change, especially because of the absence of a nation-wide approach to universities. The  discussion of quality assurance focused on the sharp contrast between the American focus on accreditation and institutional QA, and the national emphasis in Australia.

The luncheon plenary address by Arthur Levine, President of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, was a delight.  His thoughts on the nature of university education were sardonic, self-deprecating, and very funny.  An excellent lunch-time speaker.  (20/2/10)

ATTRACTING TALENT

A connection has been building between international education and Australia’s strengthening knowledge economy.  Immigration policy has been a critical element, facilitating a sophisticated (though imperfect) range of opportunities for international students and graduates to progress through to permanent residence and citizenship.  It is now under threat.

The program has, arguably, been too successful, if judged by sheer numbers.  A massive influx of students flowed into vocational education programs oriented to jobs on the Migration Occupations in Demand List (the MODL).   The result was a dramatic increase in the number of hastily formed private colleges, particularly in Melbourne.  Many were geared to meeting demand primarily from a few states in northern India.  Questions began to be asked about the sustainability of international education, based on concerns about the quality of many new education providers, and their fit with the labour market.

When random attacks on Indian students were reported in mid 2009, student safety issues exacerbated concerns by students about the precarious future of colleges, and snowballed with media reporting on negative student opinion.  The Indian media also took an interest, fanning outrage among xenophobic nationalists, leading to demonstrations and protests, and catapulting the issue across the world.

A response in Australia was necessary.  State governments tightened up on private colleges, and the universities devised a Ten-Point Plan to address concerns about student well-being.  Taskforces and inquiries were set-up all around the country.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) response was to significantly tighten processes leading to the awarding of student visas in India, dramatically reducing the number of students able to come to Australia.  More significant changes by DIAC are to follow and are going to impact right across the international student program.

The risk is that DIACs actions will discard the peas with the pods.

Australia had been nudging along a pathway leading to a significant strengthening of the knowledge economy.  Central to this is making it possible for international students when they graduate to stay in Australia, even if only for a few years, and contribute to research, innovation and commercialisation.  Australia as a talent bank, into which international students both deposit and withdraw, depends on a well-balanced and efficient nexus between immigration, labour-force requirements, innovation policy and higher education.

However there are multiple agendas within government and not all align with the need to build these aspects of Australia’s knowledge economy.  DIAC is now fuelling the population debate, and seems to have decided that immigration numbers must be reduced, along with the rate of Australia’s population growth.  Invariably students (and refugees) will feel the effects.

Securing a niche in the global knowledge economy is more complex and less easily managed by the media than immigration.  The Cutler Report (Venturous Australia) called for a strategic alignment between Australia’s aspirations as a leading knowledge economy and its immigration strategy.  Now the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation is looking into Australia’s international research collaborations.  It is an opportunity to again make some key points.

Most importantly, the immigration-education nexus needs to be built, not dismantled.  This includes thinking about how Australia can foster its talent bank function. 

We need to focus on building genuine knowledge cities and universities that  attract talented undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers. 

In parallel, much better integration is required between the forging of strategic international research links, domestic innovation policy, and the international education strategies of universities.

This would include an expanded and much more strategic approach to the Australian Endeavour scholarships, and a more supportive approach to short and long term immigration issues. 

And finally, it requires a better resourced and more strategic approach to building collaborative links in countries that are going to shape the global knowledge economy in the second half of the 21st Century: China and India to begin with, and in due course, countries such as Vietnam, Brazil and Russia.

Not everything can be done at once.  Getting right the nexus between immigration and international education is probably the most critical issue of the day.  It is the issue where there is the greatest risk of undoing the good work of the last decade.  (31/1/10)

ASIAN CITIES

Drafts of chapters for a book that Stephen Hamnett and I are editing have been arriving; five so far, with another six to come soon.  We are concurrently thinking about our (8,000 words!) introductory chapter. 

The themes of the book are planning, risks and resilience in the very large cities of the Pacific Rim.  Mostly analysts talk about urban resilience in the face of natural disaster eg the recent earthquake in Port-au-Prince.  The resilience of the Pacific Rim megacities can be the response to environmental catastrophies, but it is also expressed in their resilience in the face of continuing rapid population growth, the spread of cities over vast distances, and the growing, complex new global roles of these cities.  The grit of past and current residents in overcoming the obstacles created by urban growth is to be admired. We want to explore these themes. (17/1/10)

STUDENT SAFETY

The tragic news overnight of the death of a recent Indian graduate in Melbourne will keep media attention on the well-being of international students/graduates in Australia.  Universities are already expecting lower acceptances from India and China; this incident will compound it.  Collectively we must ensure the key recommendations of the many reports now appearing on international student welfare get due attention with actions to follow.  What a sad issue to have to deal with first day back at work. (4/1/10)