The Australian Higher Education Seminar got off to a busy start, as we delegates got to learn about the Australian Education System both from a Government and Institutional Perspective. Representatives explained how Australia is working to increase participation in higher education, believing that the more people who study at a higher education level mean a more productive economy. Australian education officials have studied the US system (to learn both what to do and what not to do). Australia has 37 public and only 2 private universities. In case you don’t know, Australia is a much younger country overall, and the oldest universities are only around 100 years old.[this first picture is of the Yarra River in Melbourne. Our hotel is right on the Harbour in the Docklands. On a warm day you see people walking along the pathways and rowers or kayakers down the river]
One of the most interesting things about the Australian higher ed system is related to their student loan program. It is called HECS-HELP (aka FAFSA of Australia). So the interesting part is that loans are deferred until you hit a certain income level (approx $43,000). …so if you don’t hit that level of income, the government absorbs that cost. Australian students can also
get an additional $2,000-$5,000 in student loans for overseas study (OS-HELP) that get rolled into their regular loans. Australia wants to get 40% of all 25-34 year olds studying in university by 2025.There is also a push for Australian universities to provide what they call “Dual Sector Education” which basically means those universities provide both vocational and more traditional university education.
International Education
Australia has been known to be very good at marketing and recruiting international students. In fact, that was the main emphasis for “international” at universities until relatively recently. Australian international educators complain that Australians don’t study abroad, but like to do a “gap year” before they start university or after they graduate. That being said 14% of undergraduate Australians study abroad…which is much higher than the US percentage (1%)
GFC?
What is a GFC? Aussies shorten everything…so this stands for Global Financial Crisis. Maybe we say it too, but I haven’t heard it before. Apparently the Aussies have been “buoyant” through the GFC, and Canadians recovered quickly as well. This is particularly the case for the education sector, because many who lost their job went back to school, which in turn helped the sector.