Stronger English language standards help protect our universities
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A move by the re-elected Coalition government to protect the integrity of Australia’s lucrative tertiary education sector by stiffening language requirements for international students seems reasonable and prudent. So too does an associated buttressing of mental health protection and support for students.
There is a crucial balance, requiring constant monitoring and occasional recalibration, between academic standards and the economic benefits of tertiary education in terms of, first, immediate earnings, and second, a well-educated and skilled workforce. There are widespread concerns that lax language levels, which suggest an inflated commercial desire to attract high-fee-paying foreign students, will undermine the industry in the long term.
There are more than 400,000 international students in Australian universities, of which more than a third are Chinese. That’s an expansion of almost 15 per cent in a single year. The number enrolled has been growing rapidly, generating close to $35 billion last year, making tertiary education Australia’s third biggest export earner behind iron ore and coal.
Education Minister Dan Tehan has instructed his department to formulate proposals to tighten language testing, in line with a recommendation in March from the independent regulator of universities, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, which particularly urges stricter language standards be set for academic foundation courses that provide foreign students with a pathway to university enrolment.
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