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has risen during the pandemic, it was surprising to see such
an increase among students being monitored online via a
process that has been criticised as being “more invasive than
face-to-face proctoring. That suggests to me that students
feel under so much pressure that they have been forced to
resort to unfair means in this situation,” says Lancaster.

CHINA
Oz graduates travails

CHINESE GRADUATES OF AUSTRALIAN uni-
versities are ill-suited to their country’s workforce
needs, often applying at the wrong time, in the
wrong way and with wrong credentials for the most prom-
ising job openings. Research by Beijing-based recruitment Oz Chinese graduates: diminishing market value
platform Lockin has identified a “mismatch” between the
career aspirations of Chinese returnees from Australian uni- INDIA
versities and the qualities sought by employers.
Lockin’s appraisal adds to fears that the perceived di- Internationalisation roadblock
minishing value of overseas degrees is threatening Chinese
enrolments, which generated more than 10 percent of Aus- UNDER INDIA’S AMBITIOUS OVERHAUL OF
tralian universities’ revenue in 2020, and as much as 30 higher education, the country aims to interna-
percent in some institutions. tionalise universities, taking advantage of strong
“While many international graduates still enjoy an edge domestic offerings. But its elite institutions continue to
in salaries in China, it can often take them longer to land struggle to attract overseas students to their Indian cam-
their first job compared to domestic graduates,” says the puses. At the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) — ar-
report. “Their time abroad can mean they… lack connec- guably the country’s most prestigious universities and its
tions and relevant experience. The timing of their applica- best known higher education brand abroad — international
tions may also be out of sync with Chinese domestic campus students make up just a fraction of overall learners.
recruitment schedules.” Recent years have seen IITs pay attention. In 2019, heads
The analysis found that three-quarters of Australian re- of IITs met to tackle the issue, noting that the low number
turnees last year had sought positions in the investment of foreign students is negatively affecting their institutions’
and finance sector, which accounted for only 9 percent of global rankings. Since then, many institutions have lowered
job openings. Roughly four times as many opportunities fees for international students, offered scholarships to ease
are available in China’s “vast” technology sector which has fee barriers and introduced goals to increase their numbers.
dominated the graduate employment market for at least But such efforts appear to have helped only marginally, if
half a decade. at all.
The analysis identified other “pitfalls and challenges” Sanjeev Sanghi, former dean of international program-
for returnees from Australia, who tended to have relatively ming at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-Del-
poor English skills and unrealistic salary expectations and hi), concedes that IITs have failed to significantly increase
lacked insights into Chinese career structures and resume share of overseas learners — partly due to a reluctance to
protocols. change admissions requirements. “Currently, we have 113
And while rankings drive many Chinese students’ univer- foreign nationals in Masters and Ph D programmes in IIT-
sity choices, their prospective bosses are far more interested Delhi out of about 10,000 students total. So it’s still a very
in their demonstrated ability to work. Some 17 out of 20 em- low number, but we don’t want to make any relaxation on
ployers last year expressed “clear preference” for internship entrance criteria,” says Prof. Sanghi. The figure is slightly
experience — about one-third more than in 2017. lower than in 2019, when IIT-Delhi set a target of 500 in-
Shane Dillon, Vietnam-based founder of recruitment ternational students by 2025.
platforms JOB+ and Cturtle, says employability and return Among undergraduates, the picture is no better, with
on investment are “critical” to international enrolments. the proportion of foreign students dipping even lower. Prof.
“An employer’s top priority is skills and the best way stu- Sanghi estimates that of an undergraduate class of 1,200,
dents can show this is through work experience,” he says. international students number in single digits. “At under-
The study analysed job applications from more than 1 graduate level a lot of universities are trying to get students
million graduates of foreign universities, including 200,000 — but for IITs it’s almost non-existent and that’s because of
who had studied in Australia. our entrance system,” he says.

JUNE 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 57