International students almost on par with Australian students

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In response to claims that universities in Australia were dropping standards to favor foreign students, some Australian researchers conducted a comparative study that disproved the earlier claims.

Results of the comparative study will be released at the AIEC conference by Alan Olsen, Dr Zena Burgess and Dr Raj Sharma, Australian publication Campus Review reported in October.

They said that there was "an alleged investigation" by the Sydney Morning Herald in June, which claimed to have found evidence of quality falling at universities as international students with poor English were being awarded degrees so they could be accepted for permanent residency.

The study of almost 340,000 full-time students in 22 Australian universities has found little difference in the performance of local and international students, with Australian students passing 89.4 percent of what they attempted while international students passed 88.8 percent.

But there was a clear gender difference, with female students in both groups passing nearly 92 per cent of units attempted while the males passed 86.5 per cent.

The report notes that the 35,039 international females outperformed the 38,890 international males, the 148,963 Australian females outperformed the 115,553 Australian males and overall, the 184,002 female students outperformed the 154,443 male students.

"Simply put, international girls did better than international boys, Australian girls did better than Australian boys," the report states.

The study used the Student Progress Unit, a ratio of subjects passed to subjects attempted, as the measure of academic performance. Of the 340,000 full-timers whose results were assessed by the researchers, 78 per cent were local and 22 per cent from overseas.

Australian students outperformed international students in 13 of the 22 universities that took part in the investigation. International students outperformed Australian students in five institutions and in four there was no difference.

The report says the 38,890 international males outperformed the 115,553 Australian males while the 148,963 Australian females outperformed the 35,039 international females. Overall, however, there was no difference.