It's a Long Way Down: The Underlying Tensions in the Education Export Industry

The stellar rise of the education export industry in Australian higher education, and the even more spectacular downturn now occurring, mask underlying tensions that have long dogged the industry and prevented it from improving quality or achieving long-term sustainability. The international education programme has been unbalanced by the drive for revenues at any cost. The tensions are (1) between education policy and immigration policy, (2) between commercial export and the health of the domestic education and research system, (3) between neo-imperial economic exploitation of Asia and a more holistic engagement on the basis of equal respect, (4) between international students as consumers and students as people with comprehensive rights, and (5) between the national political economy and the global public good. The article suggests ways to resolve these tensions, including the forms of a bilateral protocol that would provide more coherent and comprehensive rights for international students.