The director of our International Education Research Centre, Professor Paul Rodan has boosted his profile as an advocate for Australia's in-country overseas student sector...

The CQUniversity Melbourne-based academic has had several opinion editorials published in The Australian and Campus Review lately, saying that the lack of political support for the sector has 'extremely concerning'.

Clockwise from top left, Paul Rodan, Erlenawati Sawir, Alison Owens, Susan Loomes and David Hamilton

LINK HERE for copy of Paul's article

He has now turned up the heat by calling for speedier processing of visas and "the related fact (which seems lost on government) that international ed has become buyer's market, while they seem to think it's still a seller's".

Professor Rodan also remarks that Australia needs a share of the "best" international research students, rather than conceding that field to other players.

"This is not helped by a 'one-size fits all' approach to visa administration."

Professor Rodan says his colleagues in the IERC have also been busy.

Research Fellow Dr Erlenawati Sawir continues with her research into aspects of academic staff preparedness for curriculum internationalisation, and also awaits the publication of one co-authored and one co-edited book on international education later in 2010, plus two journal articles.

Reflecting Dr Sawir's growing status as an expert on international student security, she was an invited guest at the September 16 launch of Urbanest South Bank in Brisbane, a 713-bed facility with hospitality-focused service and high quality facilities.

Meanwhile, Sydney-based IERC Adjuncts Dr Alison Owens and Susan Loomes continue their work on social inclusiveness measures for international students, with a paper ('Intervention for retention: how can academic and social support help universities keep their students?') to be presented at the Tertiary Education Management conference in Melbourne in early October, and a modified version at the Australian International Education Conference in Sydney the following week.

Professor David Hamilton in Melbourne is researching aspects of the teaching evaluation process for international students.

In last week's Australian newspaper article Education Response a National Disgrace (Sept 14), Professor Rodan said that politicians ignore the international sector at our peril.

"The federal election confirmed the mining industry is a formidable political force. Having helped topple a prime minister and had a tax radically modified, the sector can be seen to have played a big role in the Coalition's gains in Queensland and Western Australia," he said.

"There is an obvious contrast between the government's accommodation of miners (covering the top three export industries) and its apparent indifference to concerns within Australia's fourth largest export industry, international education. Indeed, one could be forgiven for concluding that government views international education as a liability compared with the extractive industries.

"Certainly, it is unthinkable that the international education industry could help bring down a prime minister or have a tax radically modified.

"Of course, international education is not located totally (or even mainly) in the private sector, so funding hard-hitting anti-government ads is not an option. And, compared with the concentration of mining in certain electorates, the international education workforce is dispersed through a variety of locations without the potential to sway the result in any particular seat.

"As with higher education generally, this adds up to minimal political influence."