How Should Rmit University Address the Issue?

How Should RMIT University Address the Issue of Declining world(prenominal) scholar dos racket in A Very Competitive orbicular Market? pic Executive Summary kingly Melbourne understructure of Technology (RMIT) is a worldwide famous university and it caters orbiculate learning dish up with near evaluations, lots of external disciples in Australia would favor RMIT University for their initiative or act studies and they ar becoming a big dampen to consist of RMIT University disciples.But recently, because of the global financial take outice staff vary and menstruation conditions in Australia, the RMIT University might face the declining tasks of external scholars. Base on this overview, this query bears an analytic envisageing and good words of certain RMIT Universitys external bookmans situations and futurity(a) make burstments. The habit and objective of this research is searching the near closely tenablenesss which argon creating the biggest cr op in external scholarly persons evaluations and friendly measurements.The major(ip) method acting of analysis adopts querynaires go over each questionnaire involves el regular(a) progressive questions to measure the results from diametrical gender, nationality, level of degree and personal opinions. The sample of take after throw out be found in appendix. The outcomes of primordial and secondary selective breeding analysis indicate that the menses transnational educatees declining in RMIT University because of the complete trend of the Australian foreign students is fall and lots of world(prenominal) students be non conform to with RMIT Universitys basic conditions or they just measured it as Just authorise.This discover card finds out the general evaluation of RMIT University is medium, a calve of world(prenominal) students rate is laid-back shade, exactly the most investigators evaluated as medium or press down indications. The major atomic number 18a of declining problem possibly is related to with RMIT University itself, such as discipline and facilities presentl, learning fees and so on. But the entire situations in Australia as well decide the student source of RMIT University. The adviseations are discussed as 1. emend tuition flavor . arouse the grapheme of facilities and triggerner operate 3. much than afield advertising 4. life history or employment support 5. Students well-being tutorship 6. Establish more than(prenominal) light political platforms and reduce tuition fee. Table of Contents 1. Introduction.. 6 2. research Purpose and Objective. 7 3. Methodology.. 8 4. Findings and Outcomes 9 5. Recommendations 15 6. Conclusion 9 deferred liquidatement 21 Appendix 23 1. Introduction In this particular research paper, the major research count on is around the question of How should RMIT University address the deal of declining transnational student yields in a very competitive global merchandise? to seek recounting operators and thus analysis main reasons and influence.The first part of this paper is identification of research purpose and objectives in this part it briefly describes surely general situation of Australian foreign students market and most of universities behaviours. Especi aloney, this part represents detailed information of external students in Royal Melbourne Institution of Technology (RMIT) and recent great performance, and whence combines all mentioned selective information and information to confirm the research purpose is aim to find out cell nucleus factors by examine all related elements.Base on the research purpose of this paper, the reasonable and logical methodological analysis should be used in collecting info and distri yete the results from data analysis, in that locationfore this article adopts the method of questionnaire valuate to collect information from RMIT Universitys global students. In this particular question naire, it concerns the research project to organise up eleven progressively questions. And in ternary part of this paper, it through the main questions in opinion to create accurate data results to assist the consecutive analysis and final outcomes.At the end of analysis, consort to precedent detailed analysis of pristine and secondary data, this paper suggests several reasonable and active testimonials such as stir the timbre of reading ashes and facilities and so on to support the objective purpose of this research. Finally, the endpoint of this research summarise all findings and emphasize the notice improvements which is suggested to RMIT University then help institution to solve current problems. 2. Research Purpose and ObjectiveA tot of worldwide students in Australia take hold increased discoverably over umteen old age ago. more(prenominal) people, particularly from Asia-Pacific region, were uniformly to resume in Australia. Many universities tried to d evelop teachingal systems into Australia education standard and undertake assessment of oversea qualification by the National Office of foreign Skills Recognition (NOOSR) in order to deplumate more external student (Auditor General Victoria, 2002). However, since the global financial crisis in 2008 numbers of external students are reduced by 10% to lowest levels.Margaret Gardner, vice prime minister and poccupier of RMIT University, utter that on that point is the wish wellly to be a surrender in the append number of transnational students coming to Australia. This impression stomach be caused by many factors, that influence dramatically on decision, such as a soaring currency, restraint of endorse application, etc. (Mercer, P 2011). Furthermore, students in any case constitute other pick countries, which are more inexpensive ascertain destination. All Australian universities are approach towering competitive situation.This seems to be very concerning bring down due to the fact that an education industry earns a massive income from external student. According to Ding, K (2012), planetaryist students puzzle out Australiaa huge $16. 3 million in export income in 2010-2011. RMIT University is one of high nature universities in Melbourne. It digests 74,000 students, including 30,000 international students inshore and off shore from more than 100 countries (RMIT University, 2012). However, it has excessively been in the declining of international student numbers situation even numbers of student in high education was pipe down growing (Lane, B 2011).In 2011, the Australian judicature has changed near visa application policies that would help overturn the decline in international enrollments (PIER, 2011). This may dally advantages to all universities, including RMIT University to have more international students enrollments. The purpose of this research is to examine various factors, which affect on decreasing in numbers of inte rnational student at RMIT University. The issue go out be considered soundly in order to find out arrogate solution for this situation.As a result, nearly crucial recommendation forget be given to RMIT University to address the issue of declining of international student numbers. 3. Methodology Research was created by RMIT international students in order to investigate the declining of international student numbers issue faced by RMIT University and give somewhat crucial recommendations to address the mentioned issue. Interviewees comprised 26 overseas students, divided by gender half(prenominal) and half from Chinese(14), Thai(2), Taiwanese(2), Malaysian(1), Indian(2), Ethiopia, Saudi Arabian, Pakistan, UAE, and Kenyan.Most respondents were student 21 30 age assembly. This survey consisted of 11 questions. Personal information was surveyed in the beginning, regarding gender, age, and nationality. Other questions were linked to the factors that affect the problem of declin ing international student numbers in RMIT University. Furthermore, it passel be inferred to some solutions that address the issue effectively. In the second part of the survey, the interviewees were asked about the person who influence most to deliberate overseas, including provide financial charm they are readinging.The questions focussed on internal factors that uphold international student growthing at RMIT University. The side by side(p) questions pointed at factors from RMIT University. The participants were asked for an opinion about the most public education level in RMIT University for international student, besides graded a gratification of step of educational system, facilities and student service at RMIT University if they were concern in these factors. The rest of the questions related to external factors, which would influence participants con at RMIT University. The respondents were asked to rank each factor influences to mull over at RMIT University.Addit ionally, they were requested to show other option area for cogitationing aboard, unless they studied in Australia. The run question asked for the recommendation to attract more international student come to study at RMIT University. A copy of the interview questions appears in the appendix component part of this report. 4. Findings and Outcomes Generally, to study overseas will offer international students a meliorate education and more hypothecate opportunities. On the other hand, international students also impart signifi pilet contri preciselyions to Australian society and economy. For example, they will bring different closes to communities and enrich them.The Australian economy as well as universities will reserve benefits from the tuition fees paid by international students or other expenses. As the number of international students declined in Australia recently, RMIT University should pay attention to this issue for the sake of continuous make profits. Therefore, in this section we will analyse wherefore the number of international students declined recently from secondary data which are collected from literature review and primary data which are collected from our questionnaires. The hobby interpret shows the basic trends in international student visa pplications to Australia. soma 4. 1 pic (Source Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011) As Figure 4. 1 shows, there is a snappy increase of student visa applications from 2006 until 2008-09 because of the higher reputation of Australian education system. However, the total number finded by a signifi whoremastertly sudden falling off from 2008-09 until 2011. Because of the graphical record shows the whole trends of international student visa applications, it can be guessed that not besides RMIT University experienced the decline, but also other universities such as Melbourne University or Monash University struggled.Moreover, the decline issue has not changed from the end of 2011 and still c ontinued in 2012. The pursuance Fig 4. 2 shows the change of volume of Enrolments and Commencements in different Australian educational sectors. As we can see the total volume of Enrolments and Commencements in March 2012 declined by -8. 5% and -7. 2% respectively compared with the same month of remnant year. Especially, the Higher teaching method sector displays a decrease in Enrolments of 4. 0% and a 6. 0% decline in Commencements compared with 2011 figure. Fig 4. 2 pic(Source Australian direction International 2012) What kind of reasons that contributed to this situation? According to Deloitte admission charge Economics (2011), the reasons include the appreciation of the Australian dollar sign which will increase the living cost in Australia for international students, the change of the General Skilled Migration program which made more difficult for international student to apply the permanent residency and the increased competitor from other countries universities may als o effect the number of international student visa applications.The above analysis is based on the secondary data, next we will use our own data which are cogitate from questionnaires to do the further analysis. One question in the questionnaire is How would you rank the quality of education system of RMIT University? The reason why we ask this question is the quality of education system is an important component of a university. If the quality of a university is good enough and has a higher reputation, then more international students will choose it and vice versa.The responses of this question can reflect international students attitudes to RMIT University. The result of this question is showing in the following Fig 4. 3. Fig 4. 3 pic Base International students (26) Q How would you rank the quality of education system of RMIT University? As we can see from Fig 4. 3, most interviewees which are 13 ranked the quality of education system of RMIT University as Medium. 7 interviewees ranked as High. However, we are very surprised that 2 interviewees ranked the quality as Low. This means they are not satisfied with the education of RMIT University.The reason they gave us why they ranked as Low is they specify recent years RMIT University did not improve its education system a lot such as the courses in some programs did not change for a stop consonant of sentence. have with this question, we weigh one reason of declining international student numbers at RMIT University should be the quality of education system is not as good as other universities such as Melbourne University. Fig 4. 4 pic Base International students (26) Q How would you rank the quality of facilities and services of RMIT University?According to the answers of the respondent in toll of the quality of facilities and services in RMIT University (Fig 4. 4), the result looks want moderate. More than half of answerer (56%) thinks facilities and services quality can be accepted, only 4 students o ut of 25 who think RMIT University provide a good speediness and services, while 28% respondents dont like the facilities and services. Here, the facilities services, according to RMIT University, includes maintenance of all mechanical and congenital services, mail services, cleaning services, fire and emergency services, and pledge system (RMIT University 2012).But in the survey, except the facilities mentioned above, the respondent also considers the teaching facilities, library facilities, sport facilities, frequency of social events, administrative services and support, online learning resources, IT support and equipment, university tissue site, financial support and advice of RMIT University provided. Some students complain that there is always a long line in the hub, in computer lab, and even the printer, no available group meeting room unless I booked it couple of days out front, some times, I cannot login myRMIT.Therefore, it is obvious to see that the quality of facili ties and services of RMIT University is not a competitive advantage for attracting international student. Fig 4. 5 pic Base International students (26) Q How would you rank the following factors that influence you to study overseas such as at RMIT University? Knowing the factors that influence student to study overseas is significant to find the reasons of the changes of number of international students. As shown in the pie chart above (Fig 4. ), there are two main aspects that students will consider when they go to abroad for further study, that is, reputation of the university and education system quality, which occupied totally 52% of the all factors that the survey provided. After consider the university reputation and education quality, 15% international student prefer study at the country with the good currency replacement rate. In addition, tuition fee (13%) and social surroundings (10%) of the call fored country as two important aspects will be considered before students choose the overseas university or the country.Few students take into consideration the education constitution (e. g. Double degree program in short-term) and the countrys immigration form _or_ system of government (e. g. , permanent resident policy), from the survey result, these two policies have the same number of supporter (5%). In this survey question, seven factors were offered, it is intelligibly that reputation of university, education system quality, education policy and tuition fee refers to the university, while another(prenominal) cardinal factors immigration policy, exchange rate of currency, and social environment of that country related to the country.Regarding the survey result, compared with the concerns of the country, international students would like put more concentration on the choice of university. Besides, the survey provides an interesting choice, that is, which country would you go to study instead of Australia? Almost all(prenominal) respondent said they want go to USA and UK, and they gave similar reasons, like high quality of education in the world, good education facility, good education atmosphere, weakness of US dollar. In fact, their opinion of the choice is consistency with the factors affect people study abroad discussed above.Thus, to attract more international students, the university should take more measures to improve their education quality and reputation, rather than relay on the policies of government. 5. Recommendations In the previous section, we have analysed the reasons that the number of RMIT Universitys international students declined using both secondary data and primary data. In this section, we are mainly aiming to project some recommendations for RMIT University for the sake of preventing the declining trend and continuous making profits.The last question in our questionnaire is If you were reporting to RMIT Executive, what would you recommend RMIT University do to attract more international student s? This is an open-end question and the purpose of it is to obtain interviewees suggestions about the improvements for RMIT University. Finally, we have conclude 6 recommendations from all interviewees responses for RMIT University to address the issue of declining international student numbers. Improve Education QualityBasically, most interviewees first suggestion is about the education quality of RMIT University. Education quality includes many areas such as the quality of programs, courses allocation of programs, physical environment of study and the quality of lecturers. Therefore, we think RMIT University should devote some effects to up(p) these areas in the future. For example, some courses in the program have not been changed for a long time RMIT University could portion different courses for the program after a outcome of time.This will make the program fresh to students and follow the trend of educational development. By allocating different courses in the program regu larly, the quality of program will be improved to a large point. For the quality of lecturers, we think RMIT University should arrange some training courses for the lecturers regularly to enhance their abilities of teaching and also provide better resources and infrastructures for lecturers. This will improve the quality of lecturers in the long run. Enhance the Quality of Facilities and ServicesExcept the education quality, universitys facilities and services also play an important role in the levels of satisfaction of student experiences. To satisfy international students demand in terms of facilities and services, the paper would like recommend RMIT University provide more service counters in hub, and offer more computers in the lab, more group study rooms. For learning resource, more books or journals are required in the library and allowed registered student can assess more online learning resources.Furthermore, provide more writing workshop for international student. More af ield Advertisements Our third recommendation is about the advertisement of RMIT University itself. We think RMIT University should advertise itself more in education market especially in foreign countries such as Asian and European countries. In the advertisements, RMIT University should display its unparalleled educational strength such as it is the only university that provides logistics program in Melbourne.Because of the globalization is becoming a trend gradually, the logistics in some Asian countries is boosting its development and demanding more good logistics graduates. As a result, more students want to go abroad to get better education in logistics, so this could be an prospect for RMIT University to advertise itself and increase the number of international students. Moreover, we think RMIT University should also enhance its cooperation relationships with other foreign universities. For example, RMIT University could insert more students exchange programs such as study tour and cooperation programs.Cooperation program means international student can study for a period time in his own countrys university and then come to RMIT University to study another period of time to acquire the certificate. This economic way is becoming more and more popular in Asian countries because it can save much cost for students who want to study abroad compared with the way that they apply RMIT University directly. Through this way, RMIT University could also increase its international student numbers. Establish More Scholarship Programs and Reduce Tuition FeeThe next recommendation is about scholarships and tuition fees. Many interviewees mentioned RMIT University should also provide scholarships for international students instead of only providing to PR students or citizens. In fact, most American universities will provide a fairly amount of scholarship to its students regardless of their nationalities. Moreover, as the exchange rate of US dollar sign is depreciate d currently, more students will choose American universities for better education and scholarship. That is one reason of declining international student numbers in RMIT University.Thus, if RMIT University could also provide scholarships to international students, the number of students will increase to some extent because Australia has a better environment and society compared with America. This is a significant strength of Australia and an important reason for international students choice. Furthermore, tuition fee is another important aspect according to interviewees answers. They are not happy with the increase of tuition fee all year. Because the tuition fee is already very high for international students compared with local students.If the tuition fee increases every year, it will be a big center for international students. According to their answers, they do not foretaste tuition could decrease, they just hope the tuition fee can keep stable during their study period becaus e they think the tuition fee is an important factor to influence their choice of university. Therefore, we think if RMIT University could consider the issue of scholarship and tuition fees, it will have more chances to increase the number of international students and improve the reputation. public life or Employment SupportThe career support of a university provided is an advantage for attracting international students. Therefore, a suggestion for RMIT University is support or communicate with some companies to offer some practical skill training opportunities to students, enable them obtain the practical work experience and professional skills before they get a job, thus, compared with their peer, the graduates will have more competitive advantage. Besides, RMIT University could provide job information to international students about working in Australia, such as organise career expo.Take Care of International Students Wellbeing A sense of wellbeing is integral to a high-quality experience for international students and is contains appointment, alliance engagement and health and preventive issues (Council of Australian Government, 2010). International students face particular challenges and may require some specialized services to support their wellbeing, because they may be living independently and for the first time in a foreign country with an unfamiliar culture and limited English skills.Apparently, the issues of wellbeing are a responsibility of the council however, university as an education provider and pass on with international students directly, is an important channel to increase student awareness of safety and minimise safety peril by informing students. Therefore, RMIT University can provide safety information and advices to current and future international students and bare the student personal safety guide to international student at orientation events. In terms of accommodation issues, as we known, there is no accommodation provided i n RMIT University.So, for international students gizmo and safety, RMIT University can cooperate with housing agency to provide housing information through schools bulletin board and website. One survey which was held by Council of Australian Government (2010) indicates that 80 per cent of international students want more Australian students as friends. The paper suggests RMIT University should actively to promote social events, help international students engage with local students and community groups and helps them adjust to the smart society and culture. . Conclusion At the end of this report, according to the above detailed analysis and recommendations suggested. In conclusion, the major reason to cause the declining issue happens to RMIT University can be divided into two sections, first one is the integral influence, because of the current international students situation in Australia is indicating an decreasing trend therefore the national factors influence the internation al students source of RMIT University.The second reason is the social evaluations, concerning the questionnaire surveys result and analysis the general evaluations for RMIT University from its international students are obtaining a medium level. Therefore, the results show that the RMIT University service provides to students which is just meet the basic level but not fully satisfied everyone, and most of investigators expect more improvements. Base on the research results, this report suggests several reasonable recommendations to help RMIT University abate current problems.The major opinions include establish more scholarship programs and reduce tuition fee, take care of international students wellbeing and improve the quality of education system and facilities. Because of these three suggestions are the key fruit reasons which were reflected on questionnaires research, therefore these performance should be certain first as essential conditions to innovate the whole institution then develop the other part as long term enhancement and future strategies.