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Studying Locally, Interacting Globally: Demographic Change and International Students in Australian Higher Education
Abstract
This chapter uses findings from an online survey of international onshore undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in an Australian university in 2009 to critically examine and compare their expectations, experiences, and levels of satisfaction. This research yielded a plethora of unique and vital concerns that were further affected by variables such as students’ age and geographic location in regional/rural versus metropolitan areas. Moreover, the results of this study, in turn, can offer educators important initial insights they can then use to develop online educational materials or online courses for such internationally diverse groups of students. This chapter argues the gap between expectations and experiences requires further attention if the delivery of academic excellence to students from divergent cultural backgrounds, with different language skills and varying social norms is to be achieved within an environment that supports and reflects cultural diversity. The chapter also provides suggestions on how such factors can and should be addressed when devising online educational materials and environments for such students. The general trend towards freely circulating capital, goods and services, coupled with changes in the openness of labour markets, has translated into growing demands for an international dimension of education and training. Indeed, as world economies become increasingly inter-connected, international skills have grown in importance for operating on a global scale. Globally oriented firms seek internationally-competent workers versed in foreign languages and having mastered basic inter-cultural skills to successfully interact with international partners. Governments as well as individuals are looking to higher education to play a role in broadening students’ horizons and allowing them to develop a deeper understanding of the world’s languages, cultures and business methods. One way for students to expand their knowledge of other societies and languages, and hence leverage their labour market prospects, is to study in tertiary educational institutions in countries other than their own. Several OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] governments – especially in countries of the European Union (EU) – have set up schemes and policies to promote mobility as a means of fostering intercultural contacts and building social networks for the future. (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2009, p. 310)
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