Teaching and Learning English

Globalisation has escalated people movement. There are more people leaving their home countries to pursue their degrees overseas than before. Australia is one among the countries with a large number of international students. The rapid growth in numbers has prompted numerous studies on international students and aspects of their academic and social experience. One frequently cited problem facing international students entering tertiary education in Australian institutions is difficulties with English language. The paper reports findings from a large-scale qualitative study concerning international students in Australian higher institution. It identifies language and teaching and learning issues affecting international students as observed by academic staff involved in teaching the students. The staff also discusses strategies for addressing those issues. Data are derived from semi-structured interviews with 80 academic staff in four faculties in one institution, and considered in the context of the research literature on international students. The issues have global implications. Language proficiency and communicative competence affects the capacity of students to learn within the academic program, to survive and integrate in the country of education, and to maximize the potential for more cosmopolitan relations with local students. The issues affect not only higher institutions in Australia but also provider countries sending international students especially language teachers in high schools, higher institutions and other language courses

English language teaching and globalisation

Advanced technology and communication have implications for people movement. There are more people pursuing their degrees overseas than ever before. English speaking countries have been chosen by a large number of international students particularly from non-English speaking background. Aside from targeting an overseas qualification these students also intend to improve their English proficiency. Australia is one among the countries with a large number of international students. This growth has also prompted numerous studies on international students and aspects of their experience, ranging from market research to scholarly projects. If there is one theme that stands out in the entire literature on international education it is the language-related difficulties that are faced by international students particularly students from English as a foreign language country. The paper identifies language issues of international students studying in Australia tertiary institutions. The difficulties range from verbal communications to written expression. The study also reports how language difficulties affect the students’ everyday encounters. Data were derived from the researcher’s work on international students in Australia, specifically semi-structured interviews with 200 students from 31 countries, and other literature on international students. Understanding the difficulties experienced by international students has global implications not only for higher institutions in Australia but also for provider countries sending international students especially language teachers in high schools, higher institutions and language courses

Measuring factors contributing to student performance at university

This paper reports on the development, deployment, results and application of a set of instruments designed for formative enhancement of university teaching, course design and learning support services for international students studying management and information technology related courses in an Australian university. The instrument has a number of unique features including how it is administered and the way it permits linkages between students’ academic outcomes and the characteristics of their learning environment to be explored. It is electronic, conducted on campus and produces a very high response rate. The instrument teases out aspects of courses and teaching which have been used by the university to inform and actively improve the learning environment. It has been used now for each of six consecutive terms and provides data for longitudinal studies of factors differentially contributing to performance of students across a range of courses, at different levels and from different countries5

Student security in the global education market

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in 2008, 3.3 million students were enrolled in tertiary education outside their country of citizenship for one year or more. From 2000 to 2008 the foreign student population grew at 11 per cent per year (OECD, 2010, P 315). Most of these students crossed national borders for educational purposes - such students are classified as 'international students' - although in some countries the data also included non-citizen permanent residents. More than four international students in ten enter English language countries (OECD, 2010, p 319). The identity of the education provider nation determines the legal and policy regime that governs international student lives. These students do not enjoy the same rights, protections and entitlements as citizens. Their status as temporary migrants with student visas leaves them in a limbo they share with other mobile people such as short-term business and labour entrants, and refugees. The uncertain, vulnerable and de-powered existence of international students, their resulting problems, and what might be done to lift their dignity and position in the world, are the matters discussed here

International business and cross-border education

Higher education is a global market and universities are increasingly becoming MNEs. This article extends international business studies (IB) accounts of the Janus face of globalisation through a user-perception analysis of higher education services in the world’s most significant per-capita education exporter nation. The analysis is entirely qualitative and does not offer statistically significant conclusions, drawing on experiential data from a programme of 200 in-depth semi-structured interviews with cross-border students enrolled in that country. The central finding is that the global education market delivers positive and negative experiences for students, pointing to the need for more attention on sector governance. Governance change may ensure that the positives are leveraged for continued sector growth for the sake of students and universities. For IB research, the study implies a need for greater inter-disciplinarity, in particular incorporating global governance, globalisation analysis and international education studies

Community Energy Storage: Governance and Business Models

The decreasing costs of distributed energy resources and increasing need for flexibility have attracted the attention of many in community energy storage (CES) business. CES, however, is a complex sociotechnical system with a variety of technologies, actors, and interactions. In the changing energy landscape, two pathways for CES, namely, local and virtual, are prominent. The range of technical, economic, environmental, and institutional values differ in these pathways. This chapter analyzes business models of multivalue and multiactor CES and provides recommendations for enabling regulatory and governance conditions