3. International Student Experience

Australian universities are committed to delivering a high quality academic experience to all students within a stimulating and nurturing environment in the knowledge that this will lead to better outcomes for their graduates and communities.

Universities Australia has worked consistently over the years to advocate for policies that protect the safety and well-being of international and domestic students. Universities Australia's Good Practice Guidelines for Student Safety (2011) highlights the role universities play in assisting to meet the needs of the international student community.

In June 2009 Universities Australia published a position paper, Enhancing the student experience and student safety, documenting good practice in this area across the university sector, government agencies and internationally. Concurrent to this was the development of a ten point action plan as a response to issues within the Australian community. The plan was closely considered at, and helped inform, a meeting of all Commonwealth, State and Territory Education Ministers held in Hobart on 12 June 2009.

Consistent with the ten point action plan, Universities Australia worked in partnership with The Academy of the Social Sciences and the Australian Human Rights Commission to facilitate a workshop on Racism and the Student Experience on 31 March 2010. The workshop brought together a range of individuals and parties to assess available data from social science research, to assist with the prevention of racially motivated crimes against international students and improve international student safety. An occasional paper was compiled based on discussion at the workshop, to assist with public debate around these issues. Universities Australia does not specifically endorse any of the views expressed in this paper.

Universities Australia has also been a longstanding and strong advocate of equity on student travel concessions. We believe that government travel concessions for full-time students should be extended to international undergraduates and to both domestic and international postgraduate full-time students on a nationally consistent basis. Universities Australia has a policy paper pertaining to the issue of transport concessions for international students.

For more information about the work that Universities Australia is doing with the sector to promote the delivery of a high quality student experience for both domestic and international students, please see the Quality and Participation section of our website.

Universities Australia supports the Council of International Students (CISA) as the peak representative body of the international student sector. More information about CISA can be found here.