Government & International Relations Seminar Series:

International Students in Australia: What’s Policy Got to Do With Them?

Presenter: Professor Gaby Ramia, University of Sydney

Hybrid: A02, Room 650 and Zoom

In many public arenas Australia is modest on the world stage, but in international education it is competitive with the world’s most successful exporters. It is currently the third most significant host-nation for international students globally, after the US and the UK. In terms of the international-to-domestic student ratio, Australia is second only to Luxembourg. Questions have long existed, however, in relation to how public policies treat and ‘construct’ international students. This seminar assesses how well successive Australian Governments have catered for the educational interests and the wellbeing of international students. In addressing the question I consider: relevant theoretical concepts in policy and governance studies; Australia’s standing in the global education market; and the policy and legislative frameworks underpinning the Education Services for Overseas Students Act(2000) and its accompanying National Code of Practice (2018). I also make an assessment on two controversies: first, whether Australia indeed has a policy regime which covers international student wellbeing, or if this is an area of ‘policy inaction’; and second, how government policy approaches have dealt with crises in and for international education. Finally, the presentation offers some implications for theory, for tertiary education providers, and for other countries.

Gaby Ramia is Professor of Policy and Society in the Discipline of Government and International Relations, and Deputy Head of School (Research) in the School of Social and Political Sciences at The University of Sydney. He co-leads the Work, Education and Welfare Theme of the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies, and is a Fellow of the Australian Basic Income Lab. He is also Editor of the Public and Social Policy Series of Sydney University Press. Gaby has research interests on: governance and the employability and wellbeing of long-term unemployed people; international education and the welfare of international students; and international student housing. His most relevant books for this seminar are: Governing Social Protection in the Long Term (2020), and Regulating International Students’ Wellbeing (with Simon Marginson and Erlenawati Sawir, 2013).