Australia is trying to improve its academic image to attract a new crop of students to its shores.
For years the island nation has marketed itself as a sun-kissed destination for foreign students, promoting its relaxed lifestyle as much as opportunities to study. But now it is revamping that approach and seeking to emphasize a more intellectual image.
The new marketing “will aim to present Australia as innovative, intelligent, inclusive, and sophisticated; a nation that is much more than a mine or a beach,” said Peter Mackey, a senior education manager for the Australian Trade Commission, during a meeting of higher-education officials this month in Cairns.
Australia’s image as an academic destination could use some polishing lately. Historically it has attracted a large number of international students, but there are signs that the country may experience a sharp decline in foreign enrollments for a variety of reasons: Attacks in recent years on students from India, rising costs, and problems within its vocational-education institutes.
The government this month put the trade commission, which is known as Austrade, in charge of marketing to foreign students and academics. Previously, Australian Education International, which sets international policy for the country’s department of education, was responsible for generating academic interest abroad. However, many objected to this arrangement, saying that having the same agency in charge of regulation and promotion was a conflict of interest.
With Austrade taking over, the agency is strengthening its ability to promote higher education.
It created a new position solely dedicated to education and also added similar personnel to its offices in China, the United States, and Vietnam.
Quentin Stevenson-Perks, Austrade’s new national education manager, says that combining the promotion of higher education with the marketing of Australian business overseas could be advantageous to universities.
“It brings together the services that we have expertise and excellence in, like dryland farming or viticulture or mining, with education, and that could be a big positive,” he says.
In addition, compared with Australian Education International, Austrade has a stronger ties abroad, especially in the Asia-Pacific region where Australia draws many of its foreign students from, says Mr. Stevenson-Perks.
However, Mr. Stevenson-Perks, who was previously the education counselor for the international-education-policy agency in Beijing and New Delhi, says that Austrade will not make radical changes in the way that higher education is promoted. “We will go back to our core strengths of diversity, multiculturalism, high-quality research, etc. And we will do it in consultation with the higher-education sector at all times,” he says.
The decision to let Austrade take the lead in higher-education promotion was applauded by Dennis Murray, executive director of the International Education Association of Australia, which represents professionals who work in international education.
He says he would prefer that an independent agency be set up to market Australian educational activities, which was a recommendation made by the so-called Bradley Review, a government examination of higher-education issues two years ago. However, he says the shift to Austrade is a step in the right direction.
“The trade commission has a new brand for Australia, Australia Unlimited, where its intellectual capabilities are included. This sits nicely with the new focus on education,” he says. “Austrade is very aware that this is different from selling cars.”
But others are less sure.
Glenn Withers, chief executive of Universities Australia, which represents 39 universities, says he wants the promotion of higher education to remain in an organization that is focused solely on education. “Austrade would not be a specialist body; it has a much wider brief than education,” he says.
He also has concerns that the trade commission will approach education as a way to generate revenue for the country, as opposed to appreciating its broader social and humanitarian mission.