Feature proposal – International Students Paying For Broken University System In Australia

International Students Paying For Broken University System In Australia

By Irina Gromova

International students in Australian universities feel they are not getting the quality education they pay for. My feature story will explore the growing frustration among international students who are spending tens of thousands of dollars on their Australian education with no access to HECS due to not being citizens of this country, only to end up in classrooms with limited peer engagement and simplified teaching methods that affect their learning experience.

They are now one of the biggest sources of income for Australian Group of Eight universities, often paying more than double the tuition fees of domestic students (Cassidy, 2024). For instance, in 2022, universities earned $8.5 billion from international students, compared to $4 billion in 2012 (Cassidy, 2024). Additionally, the ABC called education a “big business” for Australia and highlighted that as of 2020 Australia was the second largest education exporter in the world, according to OECD’s report (Maani Truu & Evans, 2024).

My proposed article is a feature story and will be offered to be published by The Guardian in their “Australian Universities” section. The target audience for the publication is current and future international students, their families, universities management, and policy-makers, and Australians who are interested in the future of higher education. This story is newsworthy because of its human interest, prominence, and timeliness considering that even in the course of the current election the topic of international students has been raised multiple times.

My story will build on previous Guardian publications such as “Australian universities accused of awarding degrees to students with no grasp of ‘basic’ English” and “Alarm bells over Australian universities’ financial dependence on international students”. I will offer a more personal and in-depth look into how this situation affects students’ learning experiences and outcomes, using new interviews and firsthand observations.

Angle

International students are funding the system, but the system is failing them – in academic quality, classroom experience, and long-term outcomes. While the media has reported on falling English standards and commercialisation of degrees, not many stories gave voice to how it truly felt being a student in such an environment.

Human sources

– Current and former international students from countries such as Canada (Zoe Bell), the Philippines (Elyka Agan), and China (Huijun Yin), who can share their personal experiences.

– University tutors who can speak about the growing number of students being taken in, academic integrity concerns, and teaching challenges.

Documentary sources

– OECD’s reports.

– Reports from the Department of Education.

– Data from the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).

Multimedia and web features

– Interactive graphics showing tuition fees, class sizes and percentage of international students in Australia.

– Hyperlinks to previous Guardian coverage and official documents.

– Embedded quotes and audio snippets for online storytelling.

Production

– The story will be completed by the end of May. Interviews and data collection will happen over the next three weeks, followed by writing and editing in the final week. The piece will be researched and produced following journalistic ethics and offering various perspectives.

– The story will easily be able to be produced for an instagram post in the form of a carousel of slides with photos and blocks of text.

– Additional images will be taken in the course of production process.

Keyword tags: international students, Australian universities, higher education, tuition fees, academic standards, student experience, Australian education, tertiary education, universities funding

References:

Cassidy, C. (2024, August 1). Alarm bells over Australian universities’ financial dependence on international students. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/02/australian-universities-international-student-fees

Maani Truu, & Evans, J. (2024, August 27). The true scale of Australia’s international student industry — in four charts. Abc.net.au; ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-27/australias-international-student-industry-in-charts/104244340?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link