Country paper on Australia: cross-border higher education in Australia

Abstract

The growth of cross-border higher education and increase in number of international students in Australia has been remarkable indeed. The reasons for this are complex, but rest mainly on the increasing market-like co-ordination of Australian higher education, funding diversification and the continuing privatisation of the public higher education sector.

This paper outlines the development of cross-border higher education in Australia. Section I begins with a detailed discussion of the higher education policy background that is essential to an understanding of why Australia has become a world leader in international higher education. Next, in Section II the paper briefly examines some of the reasons for Australia’s success in international higher education. Then Section III examines the rise of cross-border higher education in this country with a policy shift from aid to trade with respect to international students. The discussion is loosely organized around the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) four modes of service delivery. Next Section IV gives a summary of Australia’s GATS commitments and a few of the quality assurance (QA) issues. The paper concludes with a look at where Australia may be heading with respect to cross-border higher education (see Section V).