Sunday, March 13, 2011

Masters in Education

It has been a very long time since my last post. Whilst I haven't been spending time on the Soy Sauce blog project, I have commenced a Masters in Education by research that focuses on similar terrain. In order to assist that research project, I thought I'd resurrect the old blog as a means of keeping track of the Australian media's coverage of international students in Australia. I am focusing on what kind of discourse is circulated in the media regarding the encounter of international students with Australia. Anyhow, this article from the Australian entitled Blitz to lure Chinese students, published on March 9th 2011 doesn't deal with this issue specifically, instead focusing on the Government's attempts to reinvigorate the market in the face of slumping enrolments.

Chinese students coming to Australia has dipped significantly over the past year or so, due to a combination of several factors including changes to visa rules, the rising Australian dollar, a weaker American dollar and a US push for an increased stake in the international education export market. The article points to Australia's rebranding of its education export sector under the Australia Unlimited banner, which will be rolled out during the China International Education Exhibition tour which commenced in Beijing last Sunday.