❓ Hon Simon O'Brien questions the Minister for Education and Training regarding a media release about attracting international students to WA, focusing on target numbers and student quality. The Minister's response provides some clarification but lacks specific figures.
AnsweredQoN 606Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
EDUCATION —
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
606. Hon SIMON O'BRIEN to the Minister for Education
and Training:
I refer to the minister's
media release today entitled ''WA to attract best and brightest
international students'', which in part states —
It is expected the changes will
attract an increased number of high-quality international students to the State
and help grow our share of the international education market.
(1) How many more students does the
minister want to attract?
(2) What is a ''high-quality
international student''?
(3) Will the
minister be turning away fee-paying, tourism-boosting fairly high or moderately
high students?
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
606. Hon SIMON O'BRIEN to the Minister for Education
and Training:
I refer to the minister's
media release today entitled ''WA to attract best and brightest
international students'', which in part states —
It is expected the changes will
attract an increased number of high-quality international students to the State
and help grow our share of the international education market.
(1) How many more students does the
minister want to attract?
(2) What is a ''high-quality
international student''?
(3) Will the
minister be turning away fee-paying, tourism-boosting fairly high or moderately
high students?
AnswerView source ↗
(1) I am not sure
whether the honourable member was perhaps out of the chamber on urgent
parliamentary business, but his colleague Hon Donna Faragher asked a question
very similar to part (1) of the member's question. The numbers are
still being negotiated with the commonwealth Department of Home Affairs.
(2) We anticipate
that the kinds of students who will find this program attractive are higher
degree students—PhD, honours and masters students.
(3) The third
part of the member's question was about whether we would be turning
away—what was the last part?
Hon Simon O'Brien : Fee-paying,
tourism-boosting other international students.
Hon SUE ELLERY : We will not
turn away any other international students who follow the normal processes of
applying to study in Western Australia. It is worth noting that international
student numbers in Western Australia have really plateaued since about 2016.
Hon Simon O'Brien : I
thought they had dropped.
Hon SUE ELLERY : The number
plateaued, if we take the whole lot. If we break them up, there has been a decrease
in the number of students doing English language intensive courses for overseas
students—that is, students doing the shorter English language courses.
In terms of vocational education and training and higher education, at the
beginning of 2018 there was a slight increase. If we take the whole lot and put
them all together, yes, there had been a decrease. If we break them up into separate
categories, there are quite different results.
whether the honourable member was perhaps out of the chamber on urgent
parliamentary business, but his colleague Hon Donna Faragher asked a question
very similar to part (1) of the member's question. The numbers are
still being negotiated with the commonwealth Department of Home Affairs.
(2) We anticipate
that the kinds of students who will find this program attractive are higher
degree students—PhD, honours and masters students.
(3) The third
part of the member's question was about whether we would be turning
away—what was the last part?
Hon Simon O'Brien : Fee-paying,
tourism-boosting other international students.
Hon SUE ELLERY : We will not
turn away any other international students who follow the normal processes of
applying to study in Western Australia. It is worth noting that international
student numbers in Western Australia have really plateaued since about 2016.
Hon Simon O'Brien : I
thought they had dropped.
Hon SUE ELLERY : The number
plateaued, if we take the whole lot. If we break them up, there has been a decrease
in the number of students doing English language intensive courses for overseas
students—that is, students doing the shorter English language courses.
In terms of vocational education and training and higher education, at the
beginning of 2018 there was a slight increase. If we take the whole lot and put
them all together, yes, there had been a decrease. If we break them up into separate
categories, there are quite different results.
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