ENG417: Sustainability of Higher Education in Australia - A Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the higher education landscape in Australia, focusing on the sustainability of the system, particularly concerning the engineering and information technology professions. The report begins by examining the attempts for admission into Australian universities, detailing the requirements and the impact of these standards. It then compares Australian policy measures with those of other countries, assessing their potential application and implications. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to evaluating the sustainability implications of lower entry standards within the engineering and IT fields, from the perspective of a specific engineering discipline. The analysis includes a discussion of funding models, the role of international students, and the impact of entry standards on professional outcomes. Furthermore, the report investigates previous attempts to regulate entry standards, and their eventual impact. The report draws on various sources, including statistical data and academic research, to support its arguments and conclusions, making it a comprehensive study of the challenges and opportunities facing Australian higher education.

Running head: HIGHER EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
HIGHER EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Attempts for Admission and Impact..........................................................................................2
Comparison of Policy measures with other countries................................................................7
Sustainability implications of lower entry standards.................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................13

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Attempts for Admission and Impact
The attempt of pursuing of higher education in the varied regions of Australia can be
proceeded both in the government along with that of the institutions, which work privately on
their own. All of these institutions be it government or private provision for education for all
the people living in all of the regions around Australia, who are interested and carry the
motivation to continue with their education and pursue for higher studies(Ali et al. 2016).
The main provider for higher education to all of these students specifically refer to the body
that has been founded as well as has been recognized by the prevailing law by the existing
Australian government along with that of the state as well as the department concerned with
the field of education. Departments concerned with the issues related to that of the
employment along with that of the relations existing within the workplace have been included
within this specific group of lot(Altbach, Reisberg and Rumbley 2019). There is an existence
of about 40 public universities, with that of the two international universities as well as one of
the private university having the inclusion of special features.
The specific model, which is followed by the Australian Universities entirely belong
to the models presented forward by the British System. As a result, the learning that is carried
out is considered to be a bit difficult standing apart from the fact that the existence of options
lying within the intermediary stages completely refer to the preparing steps. Initial years,
which exist show similarity to that of the freshman year, having a side towards that of the
course being related to research(Baik, Naylor and Arkoudis 2015). On the contrary, this
particularly sets the standards ready for the research throughout the entire learning related
experience as a specific part of the existing evaluation completely related to the performances
that is carried out the students within the education field. The various types as well as number
of universities rely within the specific regions prevalently existing with that of Australia,

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have been rewarded with the rank of 4 as a preferred destination for the pursuing of PhD after
the options provided by UK, US and France.
(Figure-1: Australian University admissions)
(Source- Becker et al. 2017)
Prevalent within Australia, all of the existing universities have a special trait of being
the institutions, which are self-accrediting in addition to each of such universities that are in
possession of carrying an attachment of legislation related to that of establishment (Becker et
al. 2017). All of such existing universities have been well received with a lot of funding to
make the utilization within their offered services to the student coming in from overseas
borders to pursue with their higher education. The funding, which these universities receive is
completely incurred by the Government of Australia. However, the related universities of
Australian National University, Australian Television as well as the Australian Radio have
been in relation with the Commonwealth legislation.

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To have an inclusion of a prime objective to pursue with the higher education in
Australia, there shall be the existence and meeting up of a varied criterion of requirements.
These need to be met in order to get through the pre procedures of the admission till the day,
a specific student becomes the student of their specific desired university (Blessinger and
Anchan 2015). This specifically relates to the existing entry standards for the prevalent
Australian institutions.
Relating to some of the happened cases, the Australian universities provide with a
spate report for an English test taken by each and every student, which falls under the
particular criterions for admission in that university. Mostly, the existing prime objective that
is placed in front of every single student is to be in possession of special skill required
relating to English language. This however, is much different from that of the acquirement of
the visa application by the students coming in from international lands (Bretag et al. 2019).
Checking of the information related to that of the visa shall be entirely checked by the Home
Affairs department as well as by the Australian Website of that particular institution.
The specific requirements related to that of the Australian institutions, has been
considered to be one of the prime requirements that shall be met in order to pursue with the
course of study in the universities prevailing within Australia. All of the mentioned criterions
are related to varied requirements that is required as well as related to the entry standards. As
a reason to this, the regarded information has to be properly read as well as carefully kept a
check upon on the particular website of the institution (Haeringen 2019). However, if the
students face any sort of queries or questions related to the entry standards, every single
student might have the provision to directly be in contact with that university for the
clarification of such issues.

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(Figure-1: Australian Growth related to Education)
(Source- Brett 2016)
Some of the generally specified guidelines for the requirements to get admitted into
the Australian organization has been mentioned briefly along with the addition of the criteria
that needs to be met as regarded relative to the entry standards (Brett 2016),
i) The specific requirement related to the English language has been completely
dependent upon the various of the criterions, which differ from institutions to
institutions. This requirement is completely based upon the proficiency related to
the English Language.
ii) The standard requirements getting the student towards the entry is different in
reference to the different schools or might as well as the institutions in which the
students shall be pursuing with their higher education.
iii) Considerately related to most of the cases there is no existence of specific
entrance exams prevalent among the VET institutions. However, many of the
referring courses shall also include the existence of dependence among specific
subjects or else, might even relate to the requirements present among the work.
iv) Having a proper entry within the Australian universities, for the undergraduate
courses, the Australian Senior Secondary Certificate of Education is mandatorily

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considered by the Australian institutions, which need to be present with each of
the student hoping to pursue with their higher education.
v) The satisfaction related to the completion of at least one of the degree belongs to
the undergraduate level, hence the specific student belongs to that specific
institution might take up the potential to research as well as take in to
consideration the relevance to work related experience.
The student visa needs to be completely dependent upon the course of study, which has been
chosen by the student for the pursuing of higher studies. The requirement, which is
completely related to the student visa is as follows (Czerniawski, Guberman and MacPhail
2017),
i) Issue of electronic Confirmation of Enrolment certificate.
ii) Attending of meetings with the related temporary entrant requirement.
iii) Funds, which is specifically required for the fares or the airplanes as well as the
fees of the course, which is pursued by the student along with the inclusion of the
costs for living.
iv) English Language related proficiency.
v) Fulfilling of the objective, which is completely based upon the health as well as
requirements for the character.
vi) Acceptance of the Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC).
Australia has the inclusion for the provision of health cover for every single international
student that commonly is referred to as Overseas Student health Cover (OSHC) (Wit 2017).
This provides the student with the helping hand of paying the bills related to that of the
medicine as well as the hospitals referring particularly to the period of their stay till the time
they pursue with their higher education.

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Comparison of Policy measures with other countries
After the making of decision by an individual student to pursue with the higher
studies in abroad regions, the initial step that needs to be adopted by the student is to follow
the procedure of research related to the university, which the student aspires to become a
student of and pursue with the rest of the education. On the contrary, there exists no waiting
for the student since, having patience and sitting idle shall never get the student through with
the admission of the aspired university. For such procedures to take place, the student needs
to search for relevant information, which is related to the desired university along with that of
the specified degree for the student (Figueiró and Raufflet 2015). Conductance of such
resources will provision the student with higher chances of getting through with the specific
desire of carrying out with the higher studies in the international universities.
Similarly, dropping of admission related applications into the universities persisting in
the varied regions of United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany as well as France or may be China
does not have the inclusion of difficult procedures as might be prominent to the student
(Harvey, Burnheim and Brett 2016). The general procedure, which shall be followed by the
student is to gather related information along with the process of keeping the required
documents ready to get admitted into the desired university.
The existing universities along with that of the institutions that belong generally to the
other existing parts of the country have placed forward a general methodology related to the
policy measure, which need to be followed by every single student in order to move forward
along the procedure related completely to that of the admission (Harvey, Szalkowicz and
Luckman 2017). The measures that need to be followed by the student has been mentioned in
detail with the following of the points. These are,

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i) Having multiple options open for the individual students. If the student has the
primary objective to get admission into the desired university, even then the
student must keep secondary options open persisting to the fact that the student
will be at least having the options to get done with the higher studies as a reason
to the fact that the student might get rejected from the desired university.
ii) To keep running checks upon the related requirements of the university having the
possession of a clear idea regarding the probability of getting through to the
desired university (Hüther and Krücken 2018). While, if situation arise where the
student has some issues related to the understanding of the specific requirements
placed forward by the university, every individual student is provided with the
liberty to directly contact the concerned authority of the college and get individual
facts clear.
iii) Discovering of the procedure related to the application is quite easy when the
students are provided with the liberty to directly apply from the website of the
concerned college or maybe the university. In reference to some of the other
universities in diverse regions of other countries, the student can apply through
separately provided platforms, which is considered to be a lot easier method
provided by the university for the ease of comfort related to that of the students.
iv) The student applying for the specific universities needs to pay detailed attention to
the presence of minute details present up on the website (Jensen et al. 2016). The
minute detail should be emphasized upon the portals that are present up on the
website of the university or the college.
However, some of the other countries consists of the inclusion of generic requirements along
with that of the rules for the international students opting for the higher education within their
universities (Jindal-Snape and Rienties 2016). On the contrary, if the student belongs to

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Europe and applies for an admission, the procedure related to the admission is supposed to
consume a lot less time than that of the time that shall be taken a student who is not
European.
Relating to the regions of Italy, Portugal, Spain or Germany, the requirement for the
student is only to undergo a pre-application procedure having a side check upon the criterion
related to its eligibility (Johnson et al. 2016).
Relating to the regions of Switzerland, the certificates, which is considered to be an
important aspect for distance education shall be recognized as well as accepted by the
Universities prevailing in Switzerland.
On the other hand, students having the primary objective of pursuing with their higher
education in the regions of United States shall have the recommendation of the procedure
related with that of searching for at least a minimum of two years with a separate intention of
applying for that specific degree within the desired university of the student (Lim 2018).
China has a separate standard related to that of the age limit, which is directly related
to the fact of applying for the universities that are persisting within the varied regions of
China. The age limit that has been set standard for the admission of the students is being of at
least 30 years of age prevailing to the Bachelor’s degree as well as being over age 40 to
proceed with the persuasion of the Master’s degree along with the inclusion of PhD (Manning
2017). This standard set for the age limit of the admission is done to maintain the age of the
students who are passing out of the universities existing in China.
Sustainability implications of lower entry standards
Prevalent in the field of Engineering, the incorporation in relation to the sustainability
persisting towards the products as well as the processes along with the inclusion of the
systems related to technology generally refers to the differentiated means of integration. All

10HIGHER EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
the referred integrations have the generic reference to the environmental with that of the
economic as well as the factors related to the social constraints persisting in relation to the
evaluation of the existing designs already. However, all of the concepts in relation to the
engineering field directly relate to the sustainability of the sound abstract for the conversion
of the variety of concepts, which are related to the quantitative tools specifically meant for
the design along with that of the metrics existing within the application (Norton,
Cherastidtham and Mackey 2016). This refers to a challenge, which lies in relation to the
sustainability in regard to the lower standards of entry within the field of engineering to the
international universities.
Implications related to sustainability have been developed in 1992 by the person
commonly referred to as the Gro Harlem Brundtland, having the position of former Prime
Minister of Norway as well as the chair of the Brundtland Commission, referring to the
conference held at United Nations Conference, which was placed at the definition of the
implications related to sustainability particularly related to the lower standards of entry for
the engineering students (Pashby and Andreotti 2016).
As stated by the United Nations, the specific concept of the implications related to
that of sustainability provisioning with the helping hand running towards the economic along
with that of the development of the social conditions to match the footsteps with the
institutions persisting on the international lands. On the other hand, the importance of
providing the international students with protection, who are leaving their home to come and
pursue with their higher education (Paulsen 2018). Intergenerational solidarity prevalently
acts as one of the prime factors within the contribution of pulling down the basic standards,
which are needed for the lower entry standards placed forward for the international students
having the main objective to pursue with their higher study for the desired degree of
engineering.

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Quite a number of factors share the existence specifically for the student to prefer
international stops as one of the prime point for the persuasion of degree within the
institutions persisting in the international lands. Internationalization of the higher studies had
been undergoing a very fast change keeping apart the challenges, altering the methods for the
following of the higher education consists of the prevalent and related concepts. The foreign
countries along with that of the specific individuals opting for the higher studies prevailing all
around the world as a method of adapting to the newer policies and the procedures for the
attraction of more of the students staying abroad (Wilkins and Huisman 2015). The rationale
approaches towards more of the internationalization highlights the various types of institution
along with that of the country. Particularly, the related motivations for the internationalization
has been completely based upon the education along with that of the rationale abided by the
field of academics.
Turkey, consists of the wide variety of history related to the students being sent to the
international universities for their persuasion of the higher education (Woelert and Yates
2015). Moreover, like other existing countries, Turkey has made a move forward with the
inclusion of efforts for the recruitment of international students related to the recent years. As
a matter of fact, this has been prevalently existing within the recent years.
However, the related fluctuations have been connected to the amount of international
students, that has been related to the recent years regarding the difference that has been
existing within the students opting for education living within the domestic field.
Engineers having a reside within the 21st century will have the requirement of the
need for a design relating to the efficiency of the energy along with the low emissions within
the environmental. Relating to both of the short as well as long term steps, there is need for
the reduction of entry standards within the specific prevailing institutions.

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On the other hand, the admission of students for higher studies in abroad have gone
up relating to the recent data in United States, by a considerable rate within the last decade.
Taking a help from the qualitative interviews, as well as with the help of the findings have
made revelations of the fact that the students studying abroad have faced a number of
challenges within the field of academics. The students have also faced situations related to
the persistence of the isolation in relation to the social conditions along with that of the
difficulty faced by them in adjusting to the cultural environment present within the
universities (Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, Shavelson and Kuhn 2015). Specifically, the challenges
that have been faced by a number of students refer to the problems such as that of
communicating with the professors, the staffs present along with that of their own classmates.
Related to a more consequent situation, the students have faced the challenges of socially
being left out when being in a group activity.

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