However, if Australia is able to reach just 1% of these learners, this would translate to over 11 million learners in 2025, and if Australia was able to reach 10% of these learners that would equate to over 110 million learners in 2025.
Among the most prospective regions for borderless growth, based on high-level qualitative research of each market’s education policy and regulation of foreign institutions, are China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia and Hong Kong. This broadly accords with the findings of the British Council which suggests that the markets with above average opportunity for ‘formal’ borderless provision are: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and South Korea.
They are rated as being above average for a combination of: (1) accommodative policy host environments; (2) higher GDP per capita and greater demand for relatively more expensive borderless education; and (3) have achieved critical mass as host countries for borderless education (British Council, 2013)
OPPORTUNITY
Australia’s comparative advantages can be leveraged to help realise the opportunity
The Australian advantage includes:
- Proximity to key markets, and increasingly open trade relations with those markets.
- A multi-cultural and multi-lingual society, enabling learners to experience global citizenship.
- Clear pathways from schooling and ELICOS to higher education and VET,
- Reputation for quality, a vital attribute to effectively realising the onshore and borderless opportunity
- Price competitiveness, in comparison to the key competitors such as the US and the UK.
- Post-study work opportunities (short-term and beyond), which have proven in the past to be a strong onshore drawcard, particularly given Australia’s employment and lifestyle opportunities.
While other competitor countries may perform better on individual market dimensions, it is Australia’s consistently high performance across this suite of factors that underscores the very distinctive Australian advantage.