Green Education in Singapore

IBM has partnered Singapore's Ministry of Education (MOE) to help schools in the country become more "green".

Under the collaboration, the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) will tap Big Blue's expertise and technologies to develop a system that tracks power usage and reduces energy and maintenance costs, IBM said Friday in a statement. The system will be implemented in 20 schools.

The vendor has provided a US$100,000 grant to the SGBC for the initiative, dubbed Project Green Insights.

IBM said in the statement that a network of smart meters will be installed in the selected schools to track energy usage patterns, with the data accessible in a dashboard view via the cloud to stakeholders including teachers and students. The collaboration will seek to reduce usage tied to lighting and air-conditioning, with the aim of lowering carbon emissions.

According to an IBM spokesperson, only one school, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College East, has so far been selected for the first phase of the project. Another four schools will be jointly chosen by MOE, SGBC and IBM by mid-September this year.

Phase two, which will involve the remaining 15 schools, is scheduled to kick off in December 2011. The entire pilot project is expected to last a year from now.

Asian Era in International Education

I have included the topic of inter-cultural communication in my class since 2008. Basically, my assumption is everyone who studies international business should learn the difficulties of cross-cultural communication and be comfortable with it. A number of studies that I looked at from key journals in international business (such as Journal of International Business Studies and Asia Pacific Journal of Management) confirm that communication does matter.

In BRW magazine a few months ago, the editor cited that Australian businesses lack the skills needed to cash in on the Asia boom with most executives unable to speak an Asian language.

They conducted a few surveys on this issue and it shows that, although most companies surveyed plan to increase their exposure to the rapidly growing markets on our doorstep, more than half had minimal experience in the region.

The report, by the Australian Industry Group and Asialink, said three-quarters of the 380 businesses surveyed were eyeing opportunities in Asia, and more than half were planning to expand over the next year.

But it also said 84 per cent of board members did not speak an Asian language, highlighting a key skills deficit facing Australia.

I found one repot that interview the CEO of Ai Group (Heather Ridout) and found that as more businesses had their futures tied to the region, these shortages were shaping up as a challenge.

Ms Ridout called on the government to create a workforce strategy to ensure Australian businesses had the necessary skills to engage in the region, and to invest more in Asian language programs.


I currently am working at a University of Technology where only 2 Asian languages, Chinese and Japanese, are taught. Having established the move from members of South East Asian nations (from ASEAN Free Trade Area to ASEAN economic community), I believe that languages such as Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese, Thai, Hindu, Bahala MAlayu etc. must be included in our business and management education.

Demise of International Education in Australia

International education has long been the major export commodity from Australia to the World, mostly to Asia. We think there is no such thing as the end of this industry, as long as international students (and their parents) still need to speak English and put a high value on ‘Western’ education and degree. Some national statistics confirm that we need to revise the way we manage our international education policy.

The latest Federal Government figures show a 1.4 per cent decline in enrolments since December 2009 year for a sector that has grown almost 11 per cent a year for the past eight years. International students make up about a quarter of all university enrolments in Australia, so any reduction in intake has a serious impact on the bottom line. What contribute to the drop of international students? Apart from the obvious short-term factors such as complication in immigration policy and the application for international student visa, competition from the UK and the US, and the solid of Australian dollars, I would like to propose two long-term critical factors which are related to the demise of international education industry.

The first, and perhaps most important, issue is quality in Australian higher education system. In 2010, Australian Education International (AEI) commissioned a study on international students’ satisfaction. It is reported in the study that the five most important factors influencing students’ decision on where to study were: Quality of teaching (with 96% of respondents identifying this factor as important or very important); Reputation of a qualification from the institution (93%); personal safety (92%); reputation of the institution (91%); and research quality (90%). The concept of quality of international education goes beyond accommodating the learning needs of international students arising out of their own cultural and linguistic experience. Stakeholders in international education need to address key issues such as how international students are treated in and outside the university, what are the implications of international and local students learning to learn together, and how to promote healthy lifestyle and well-being among international students in this country?

The government try to create quality education through different mechanisms. One prominent strategy is the coalition of research bloc of the country’s eight elite universities known as the Group of Eight (GO8). It is recently reported that the federal government’s proposal to provide an additional 110,000 undergraduate student places by 2020, and 235,000 by 2030, within the GO8 system is putting quantity over quality and will result in much higher fees or greatly diminished academic standards. Hence, it is unlikely that the research intensive plan will be easily achieved when academic staff doubles their teaching and administrative load.

The second issue, for me, is the way we treat international students in Australia. A number of research studies in international education and trade in education service confirm that, for most international students, Australia is perceived as a safe, cheap and comfortable place to study. These points can be found and imitated in some other countries that export education to the international market. As a person working in this industry, I hardly hear a quick response from the University or the Australian government to international students to show our concern for their well-being. For instance, with the current disaster in Japan, we have not received a strong message from any major institutions or government to share how much we care for our Japanese students and their families.
Not so long ago, the spate of "racially-motivated attacks" on Indian students drew flak from all across the globe after several Indian students were injured and some even lost their lives. The quick response was several trips to India by top government officers, in order to promote Australia as a safe place to study. Instead of stating that the situation was not racially-motivated attack, the Australian government should have addressed some clear strategies to protect our international students from crime against our international students.

When it comes to the ‘value’ of Australian education, not much has been discussed and implemented among stakeholders in the international education industry. Henry George once stated that the value of a thing in any given time and place is the largest amount of exertion that anyone will render in exchange for it. What is the value of Australian education in the eyes of international students? What do they want in return from the money and time they spend in Australia? For instance, an international undergraduate business student at the University of Melbourne pays $31,776 a year. On top of the tuition fees are living expenses, other non-financial expenses and life opportunities.

Clearly, focusing on being an easy place to live and study is not quite the right message to send to international students (and their parents). Most Anglophone countries can modify their economic and education policies if they need to attract international students by focusing on offering cheap and easy courses to study. However, not all countries can provide a world class education system. The United States of America is a classic example when we think about the sustainability of international education industry. The Ivy league system and the balance of research and teaching universities in America can ensure the quality of existing teaching system and the creation of new knowledge. This is the message that all stakeholders in international education need to send to our international students and their parents. Australia must be perceived as a quality place for education, not a place to visit Koala and Kangaroo.

The image of being an easy place to study may be linked with the lack of preparation to offer an excellent education (and lifestyle) to our international students. Some recent examples include Canberra’s decision to lower entry requirements for international students, the increasing numbers of poor quality higher education degrees among public regional universities and private companies in most major cities in Australia, and the poor reactive and defensive strategies to support international students’ welfare and security. We cannot leave these issues with the government alone. As an academic, I believe all stakeholders in international education must acknowledge these issues and work towards the improvement of international students’ life and well-being in this country, if we need to offer an expensive value of Australian education in the global market.

Tertiary slump to sting unis

STUDENTS are turning away from tertiary education courses in Victoria, with applications to study at TAFE plummeting by almost 10 per cent.

International year 12 student applications have slumped by 6 per cent this year, which will alarm universities because they depend on international student fees to subsidise domestic places.

Mature-age applications and graduate-entry teaching applications also plunged by 8.7 per cent.


Despite the fall in applications, the overall number of students who received tertiary offers - 75,781- was up 2.5 per cent from last year, according to the Victorian Tertiary Admission Centre.

Of those who applied to study at university, 82 per cent received an offer.

Poor and disadvantaged students were clear winners, with university offers to students from low socio-economic backgrounds increasing by 8 per cent, following the higher participation targets set by the federal government after the 2008 Bradley review of higher education.

The government has set a national target of 20 per cent of students at university coming from low socio-economic backgrounds by 2020.

It is also pushing for the overall number of students attending university to rise. University enrolment caps have been increased in recent years, and will be scrapped next year.

The government wants 40 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds to hold a bachelor degree by 2025, up from the current 29 per cent.

While university applications fell by 1.3 per cent in Victoria, TAFE and private tertiary colleges were most severely hit, receiving 8.7 per cent and 7 per cent fewer applications respectively.

University of Melbourne associate professor Leesa Wheelahan said when the economy was doing well there was less demand for tertiary education because it was easier to get a job.

She also said universities were poaching students because of the drop in international students and the new demand-led higher education system, which would lead to the cap on university enrolments being lifted next year.

''Universities are trying to get a bigger share of enrolments and cannibalising students who would normally apply to TAFE,'' she said.

Professor Wheelahan said the former state government's controversial shake-up of vocational education could also have cut TAFE applications, with fees for higher qualifications almost tripling and HECS-style loans introduced.

''I don't think the Victorian government has done a particularly good job of explaining income-contingent loans,'' she said.

The University of Melbourne this year offered 6000 new undergraduate places, more than ever and an 8 per cent increase on 2010. The number of offers it made to students from low socio-economic backgrounds jumped from 325 to 606, while offers to rural students increased from 659 to 754.

Acting vice-chancellor Professor Susan Elliott said the increase in overall offers, especially for disadvantaged students, was partly a response to the federal government's call for better university access for all students but also an essential part of the university's Melbourne Model. Under the model, students study a broad undergraduate degree and specialise at postgraduate level.

But when asked whether the government's growth agenda was sustainable, University of Melbourne senior vice-principal Ian Marshman said it was a serious issue for research-intensive universities such as Melbourne.

''In one sense the whole of the system has been living off the benefits of international student enrolments,'' he said. ''If there is some real hiccup in that area, it's going to make quite a big difference.''

Mr Marshman said his university received an average $16,000 for a Commonwealth-supported domestic student place and about $28,000 in fees from an international student, when the average cost of educating a student was more than $20,000, ''so there is actually a direct cross-subsidy from fee-paying students''.

''It's providing disincentives to institutions to enrol significant numbers of additional domestic students because they are losing money,'' he said.

The standard cutoff score to get into arts at the University of Melbourne was 88, down from 89 last year, and 85.05 for science, down from 89.05



by Jewel Topsfield

Australian Universities hit hard by slump in foreign students

A slump in the number of international students coming to Australia is causing major problems for universities reliant on full-fee-paying students.

The latest Federal Government figures show a 1.4 per cent decline in enrolments since this time last year for a sector that has grown almost 11 per cent a year for the past eight years.

International students make up about a quarter of all university enrolments in Australia, so any reduction in intake has a serious impact on the bottom line.

Monash University is Australia's largest university and has more international students than any other.

Vice-chancellor Professor Ed Byrne says enrolments in English language courses at Monash College are down 30 per cent.

With half of those students typically migrating to full-fee-paying university places, that is a substantial loss of income.

"For next year, we're about $40 million on the income side away from where we'd hoped to be," he said.

Monash has just approved 359 redundancies to improve its budget forecast for next year.

Jennie Lang is pro-vice-chancellor international at the University of New South Wales. She says the decline in student numbers is worrying.

"In some instances, the downturn will initially be small and will be handled on the margins. In other universities it will be catastrophic," she said.

China is Australia's biggest market for international students, with India a close second.

Government data shows Indian student enrolments are down 17 per cent on this time last year.

The high Australian dollar has increased competition from the US and UK, but Ms Lang says recent changes to immigration rules are also to blame.

"There's been really significant problems about the messages we used in the election campaign to do with migration and whether or not Australia wants to grow its population," she said.

"That's been interpreted in our major source countries in Asia as Australia now sort of moving away from having international students and migrants."

'Perceived racism'

Ms Lang says there is also a perception that Australia is not as welcoming as it could be to international students.

"We've been picking that up in a number of countries that we've been visiting this year," she said.

Spokesman for the Federation of Indian Students of Australia, Gautam Gupta, agrees with the assessment.

"I think everything plays a role. High Australian dollar obviously contributes, as for migration laws again, definitely a reason," he said.

"The biggest problem is the lack of confidence in the Australian Government and the lack of ability to stem the increasing violence."

Professor Byrne agrees perceived racism against Indian students has had an impact.

"We have a really good idea of this because of interviews with students and with our many agents throughout Asia," he said.

"So in South Asia, initially there were cultural safety factors as perceived in India. Now they've been addressed very vigorously by the Federal Government and by the university sector.

"I think cultural safety and a mutual understanding is being built up. It will take a few years to completely get over that hiccup but we'll get there.

"The Indian market was also very migration-focused and the new migration criteria I think have affected that market also."

But Professor Byrne is hopeful the downturn is not indicative of a long-term trend and that enrolment numbers from all overseas markets will have improved by 2013.

"I don't think there is going to be a decline in the long run," he said.

"Remember that the number of people who live in families that can afford university education privately in Asia is predicted to grow from something like 300 million today to over 1.4 billion in 10 years' time.

"The current international student market from Asia, especially China, is growing at more than 30 per cent a year and I think that's predicted to continue into the future.

"So this market is going to grow internationally for many, many years."

Source: ABC news by Anna Hipsley

Foreign student numbers continue to dive

NEW international student commencements continue to fall, dropping 9.5 per cent, or more than 32,000 students, as at the end of October.

According to government agency Australian Education International, total enrolments in Australia are down 1.4 per cent at 599,795 students.

The drop in commencements has worsened marginally from a 9.3 per fall as at end-September, but the fall in total enrolments has accelerated from a drop of 0.9 per cent.

The figures come as the government continues to be pressured by the international education sector to ease tighter visa restrictions on students that it fears are discouraging applications.

As previously reported in The Australian, research by the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy has highlighted that students seeking an Australian visa have to have substantially more money behind them to qualify compared with the US, Canada and Britain.

In a statement today the Australian Technology Network of universities said the visa system was "threatening to the derail'' the industry.

"We have a ridiculous situation whereby the level of proof required by students from our key markets of China and India are substantially more onerous than for that required by students from Singapore and Malaysia,'' Ross Milbourne, ATN chairman and vice chancellor of University of Technology, Sydney, said.

International students seeking a local visa need to prove they have sufficient funds to cover tuition fees and living costs for the duration of their stay, which for a three-year degree would amount to at least $108,000, the Curtin Institute said. In comparison, it is about $40,500 in the US and $23,000-$25,000 in Canada, Britain and New Zealand.

As of October, enrolments in higher education remain 8.4 per cent up on a year ago, while commencement growth has slowed to 1.9 per cent. But the sector is braced for a substantial drop in numbers next year, especially in the second semester with some universities budgeting for falls of as much as 25 per cent.

The Curtin Institute has forecast that falling international student numbers in higher education could cost the economy as many as 19,000 jobs by 2012.

TAFEs and their agents are warning of between 30 per cent and 40 per cent decline in commencements next year, TAFE Directors Australia said yesterday.

Commencements in vocational education and training are down 8.2 per cent as of October. Enrolments are up just 0.4 per cent.

The English language college sector, which feeds both higher education and VET, remains the worst hit with enrolments down 18 per cent and commencements down 22.3 per cent.

(Source: The Australian)

Top unis warn on loss of quality

THE academic integrity and international competitiveness of Australia's universities faces being seriously compromised.

This would occur if the Gillard government goes ahead with plan to approve thousands of additional student places without a corresponding boost to the sector's funding.

According to the coalition of the country's eight elite universities, known as the Group of Eight, the federal government's proposal to provide an additional 110,000 undergraduate student places by 2020, and 235,000 by 2030, is putting quantity over quality and will result in much higher fees or greatly diminished academic standards.

The Group of Eight has also expressed concerns that Australian universities are being driven into a one-size-fits-all regime, which lowers the standards of the best and props up the underperformers.

The group yesterday called on the Gillard government to either commit to billions of dollars to fund the proposed boost in university places, or allow tertiary institutions to make up the difference with sharply higher fees.

Without the funding, the Group of Eight says, the quality of tertiary education provided by Australian universities compared with other advanced countries will slide.

The warning follows a series of studies commissioned by the group, the reports of which have been obtained by The Australian.

Mike Gallagher, executive director of the Group of Eight, said the country's universities would struggle to maintain quality, while absorbing an additional 110,000 students by 2020 and 235,000 students by 2030.

From 2012, the government will remove the limit on the number of publicly funded undergraduate places, effectively undertaking to fund as many students as universities enrol.

But the federal government estimates that only 50,000 additional students by 2013 and 217,000 additional graduates by 2025 fall short of Group of Eight -- and subsequent Treasury -- projections.

Last year the government budgeted $491 million over four years, with a further $437m to target students from disadvantaged backgrounds. But the mid-year forward estimates increased the amount by $800m, suggesting the initial government predictions were wildly inadequate.

The Group of Eight estimates the additional places will cost an extra $3.6 billion a year (in 2008 dollars) by 2030. To maintain current staff-to-student ratios, among the highest in the world at over 20:1, will cost $1bn, while reducing them to 16:1 would cost further $7.5bn.

"We think the cost of growth needs to be shared. Government, general taxpayers and students will all have to pay more."

The Group of Eight says universities should be freed up to charge what they can, up to a 50 per cent increase on current fees.

"There are a whole lot of students who could afford to pay more but don't because the government won't let them," Mr Gallagher said.

He said the British government has recently proposed a sharp increase in fees. "Fee deregulation is unpalatable to government, but the issue is not going to go away," Mr Gallagher said. "The UK has just addressed it. It just takes a bit of leadership to say what is fair for the country and what's affordable for the country."

Australia is already the third-highest in OECD nations in how much individuals contribute to tertiary education -- behind only the US and Korea.

Marcia Devlin, a professor of higher education at Deakin University, said it was disappointing that students should foot the bill.

She said there were numerous other sources of potential funding, including industry, professional associations, alumni and philanthropy.

A spokesman for Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans said the government was committed to a review of cluster funding rates -- or what the government pays universities for enrolling students in different disciplines -- "so that funding for teaching and learning remains internationally competitive".

The Go8 is also concerned that all universities are being driven into a one-size-fits-all regime, which lowers the standards of the best and props up the under-performers. Currently, there are three institutions in the top 100 of the Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings -- Australian National University, Melbourne and Sydney.

Other institutions represented by the Go8 are the universities of NSW, Queensland, Western Australia, Adelaide and Monash. Every member of the Gillard cabinet gained their first degree at a Go8 university.

The aggressive stance on funding by the Go8 is at odds with the traditional polite lobbying of vice-chancellors and could reflect the fine balance of power now in government.

Peter Quiddington, a adjunct lecturer from the University of New England, who is about to publish a book on the failed lobbying efforts of vice-chancellors, applauded the Go8's more assertive approach.

"Vice-chancellors argue that if they don't ruffle feathers, there will be more in the future. And the government of the day has always rolled them. They are being ripped off blind."

A spokesman for senator Brett Mason, who has carriage of higher education for the opposition, said: "The Go8's paper raises many issues and ideas that are very important in developing . . . policy."

Source: The Australian.com.au