In the global context: national policy on international education

1. Signs of problems in the system: ‘The tail is wagging the dog’ The paper opens with discussion of the problems of international education in two institutions at opposite ends of the status and resource hierarchy in Australian higher education. One is a post-1987 institution with a minor research mission, in the international market a volume-driven provider. The other is a research intensive university which has maintained itself at medium size and tends to operate at the top end of the international market (that is, in comparison with other Australian institutions, though not in comparison with US institutions). It recruits international students of good academic quality including a high number of international research students (though again, it is a high number relative to most other Australian providers, not US or UK providers). Central Queensland University: The first institution is Central Queensland University (CQU). In May this year CQU was ordered to stop enrolling domestic fee payers at its Sydney and Melbourne franchised ‘shopfront ’ campus because the University had not filled its quota of HECS-paying domestic students. This was