Full-Fee Paying International Students at Murdoch University 1985 - 1991: a Policy Case Study

FULL-FEE PAYING INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT MURDOCH UNIVERSITY 1985 - 1991: A POLICY CASE STUDY. Colin Trestrail B.A., B. Ed., Grad.Dip.Admin., M.Ed. FACEL. This dissertation is presented as fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 2005. DECLARATION I declare that this dissertation is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work which has not been submitted previously for a degree at any tertiary institution. Signed: Colin Trestrail ii ABSTRACT In 1985 the Australian Government announced a momentous policy initiative allowing Australian universities to enrol full-fee paying international students for the first time. This case study is an analysis of the policy development that ensued at Murdoch University between 1985 and 1991as it responded to this opportunity to alleviate problems, with finance and low student numbers, that were threatening its very existence as an independent university. In particular, it examines the factors that had placed Murdoch in such a parlous situation, and the reasons why it was able to respond quickly and effectively so as to implement a highly successful and comprehensive program for the recruitment, enrolment and support of full-fee paying international students. The case study format allowed for the use of a wide range of data sources. Sources of documentary evidence included: formal written works about the events and concepts under investigation, newspapers and other media items, letters, memoranda, agendas and minutes of meetings, and other internal Murdoch University documents. In addition, archival materials such as annual reports, budgets and financial records were consulted. Verification and extension of the documentary and archival evidence was gained from interviews with past and present staff and students of Murdoch University who had been involved with the program. The study found that organisational changes initiated by successive Vice-Chancellors in the 1980s had replaced a slow and unresponsive, collegial style of decision-making, based on very wide consultation, with a more centralised, bureaucratic and market- iii oriented system. New, streamlined procedures, and the devolution of policy- development to small, semi-autonomous committees, enabled the University to rapidly develop policies and procedures for the inauguration of a program for full-fee paying international students in 1987. The continued success of the program, both in terms of enrolment numbers and financial returns, was found to be based on the creation and development of an almost independent, and entrepreneurial, International Office for the organisation of most aspects of the program, including the marketing and recruitment process. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY 1 Background To The Study 1 Globalising Forces 1 The Australian Scene 3 Tuition Fees 4 International students 5 The Research Methodology 7 Data Collection 11 Structure Of The Report 13 CHAPTER ONE A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 18 Globalisation 18 Globalisation And Higher Education Policy 21 Globalisation And Australian Higher Education Policy 30 Full-Fee Paying International Students 35 Murdoch University 38 The Proposed Yanchep International Campus Of Murdoch University 43 Summary 45 CHAPTER TWO AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION FOR SALE 49 The Genesis Of Full-Fees 52 Labor Government Policy 54 The Influence Of John Dawkins 56 The View Of The Opposition Parties 59 Pressure Groups 61 The Academic Lobby 61 Aid Or Trade? 63 Education For Sale 70 CHAPTER THREE THE MURDOCH UNIVERSITY CONTEXT 72 A New University 72 The Veterinary School 74 Expectations 75 Location 76 The Planning Board 78 Deciding To Be Different 79 The Murdoch Ethos 80 Courses 83 Administration 85 The Fight For Existence 96 The Williams Report 99 International Students 101 Conclusion 103 v CHAPTER FOUR THE DECISION TO BECOME A PROVIDER TO FULL-FEE STUDENTS 105 The Yanchep International Campus Proposal 105 The Tokyu Corporation 107 The Role Of EXIM 110 Murdoch’s Role 111 The International Campus Task Force 112 The Public Debate 115 The Role Of Robert Pearce 120 The Hill Committee 122 The Debate At Murdoch 123 Student Reaction 130 The Hill Committee’s Report 132 The International Campus 133 Full-Fee Paying International Students 134 The Interim Report Of The International Campus Task Force 140 WAIT Enters The Picture 145 The Decision 148 The Working Party On Overseas Students 150 The Report Of The Working Party On Overseas Students -Academic Policy 153 The Report Of The Working Party On Overseas Students -Admissions Policy 154 CHAPTER FIVE MARKETING AND RECRUITMENT 158 Early Mistakes 158 Marketing strategies 160 Promotional Tools 162 Advertising 162 Personal Contact 163 Alumni 163 Agents 164 The Use Of Government And Other Agencies 165 Using Partner Institutions 167 Towards Better Practice 168 The Policy Makers At Murdoch University 171 Market Research 173 Sources of External Assistance For Murdoch 176 The EXIM Corporation 176 Austrade 177 Marketing Methods 180 Media Advertising 180 Local Agents 182 Personal Contacts 185 Roadshows 185 The Matriculation Colleges 189 Murdoch’s Use Of Twinning 192 Edwards International College 196 Kolej Damansara Utama (KDU) 204 vi Disted 206 Scholarships As A Promotional Device 207 Exchange Programs 211 Enrolments 215 Financial Returns 220 CHAPTER SIX CUSTOMER CARE - SERVICES FOR STUDENTS 221 Which Services? 221 The Current Study 223 Orientation 224 Orientation At Murdoch University 226 The Establishment Of The International Office 231 Accommodation 238 Accommodation At Murdoch University 241 Developing Student Village 252 Off-Campus Accommodation 258 Food 262 Transport 264 CHAPTER SEVEN TEACHING AND OTHER ON-CAMPUS RELATIONSHIPS 266 Teaching And Learning 266 ‘Deficit’ Models 266 Developmental models 270 English Language Competence 277 Teaching And Learning At Murdoch University 278 Other Learning Skills 281 Staff Development 282 Graduation And Beyond 284 Welfare And Relationships 286 Relations Between Students 289 Relations Between Students And Staff 291 Racism 292 CONCLUSION 303 The Study 303 The Research Questions 310 Research Question One 310 Research Question Two 313 Research Question Three 317 Research Question Four 318 Services To Students 320 Beyond 1991 321 Concluding Statement 323 BIBLIOGRAPHY 324 vii INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY Background To The Study. In a press release in July 1985, the Commonwealth Minister for Education, Senator Susan Ryan, announced that the Government would be enacting legislation that would allow Australian universities to enrol international students on the basis of full cost- recovery for their courses. This statement and the subsequent legislation that was enacted were to have significant implications for most of Australia’s universities. As will be discussed later, many institutions at the time were experiencing problems of shortfalls in finance or of student numbers (or both) and saw this initiative as an opportunity to alleviate these problems. This study is concerned particularly with the evolving policy responses of Murdoch University to this Commonwealth triggered shift, which was part of a complex set of globalising and local forces affecting tertiary education in Australia. Globalising Forces The last two decades of the Twentieth Century was a period of great change for Australian Universities. They were forced to adapt their policies and practices in response to significant policy changes on the part of Commonwealth and State Governments. These bodies, in their turn, had been affected by the set of forces commonly referred to as “globalisation”. There are many, often quite different, definitions of the concept of globalisation (Pierre 2000, Dale 1999, Marginson 1999). Some sources see globalisation as a purely economic phenomenon characterised by the emergence of supranational companies whose transactions are not fettered by national boundaries or economic structures (Wolf 2000, Perraton 2000). Others perceive it as more of a cultural and political force by which Western governments 1 and companies, in particular, seek to impose a cultural homogeneity to further their ideological and financial interests (Halimi 200, Sklair 2000, Cerny 1996). There is also support for the position that globalising forces are both economic and political/cultural in nature and are by no means uniform in their spread or effects throughout the world (Lechner 2000, Naygar 1997, Barber 2000, Tomlinson 2000). In spite of this divergence, there is some general agreement that the apparently simultaneous emergence of globalising forces in so many countries was due in great part to massive technological developments, especially in transportation and communication (Wolf 2000, Cerny 1996, Humphreys and Simpson 1996, Green 1999). The ability to instantaneously exchange information, transact business between companies thousands of kilometres apart, or broadcast ones ideology to an international audience, has irrevocably changed our world. Companies are emerging that pay no attention to traditional national boundaries, shifting capital, and sometimes the labour force, to those places in which the greatest financial returns can be obtained. The traditional role of governments is changing as they adapt to the situation in which they are less able to control the financial and social forces that transcend national boundaries (McNeely 2000, Ohmae 2000, Craypo and Wilkinson 2000). This is not to say, however, that nations have lost control of their own destinies. The majority of the sources

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