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International Student Completion Ceremony
28 November 2009
On the 14th November the University held its first Completion Ceremony for international students in their final semester of a full degree program. Most of them return home once exams are finished and few are in a position to return to Australia for the official graduation ceremony in April of the following year. For many students, the opportunity to gown for a ceremony and be personally acknowledged by the Chancellor is an important right of passage for a graduate. It is also a very concrete link to the academic traditions, followed by western universities, which can be traced back to medieval times. So while this cohort of students had not technically graduated and could not be conferred with their testamurs, the University did provide them with the opportunity to attend a small, personalised event that captured some of the ritual of a formal graduation ceremony.
Around 70 students, from 11 countries attended and they were supported by about 150 fellow students and friends as well as University staff who had been associated with them during their studies. The event had a lot of energy to it and the students really appreciated the occasion and the chance to celebrate with other international students from each of the three faculties. We look forward to building on this inaugural ceremony next year and engaging more of our graduating international students.
International students are currently an integral part of Australian university campuses, with some institutions enrolling more international than domestic students. Australia has the highest proportion of overseas students of any country in the OECD. Over 20 percent of this country’s tertiary students are from overseas. This compares to single digit figures for most of the countries that provide students to Australia.
In an increasingly global economy and community, internationalisation of the university experience is a vital strategic consideration. The question each host university needs to answer, however, is just where the right balance between domestic and international students lies. For the international student, immersion in Australian society is an important goal and this can be placed at risk if the ratio becomes too high in favour of international students. Certainly, when we send our own students overseas through the Global Opportunities Program (GO) the expectation is that their experience will be dominated by interactions with students and community of the host country.
At USC, international students currently make up about 15 percent of total on-campus enrolments. Our longer term target is to reach the 25 percent mark. One of the anomalies with our international enrolments is that although they have been growing by more than 20 percent a year for the last 5 years, domestic enrolments have also been growing rapidly. So, while the numbers of international students on campus are much higher than they were a few years ago their representation as a proportion of the total student population remains modest. Many of these students study with us for only a semester but the numbers completing full programs is growing.
This year, about 1,500 international students from over 60 countries studied at USC, with the largest numbers coming from Germany, United States, Canada, France and Norway. These people make an extremely positive contribution to the university community and the regional community as a whole.
Professor Greg Hill is Acting Vice-Chancellor and President at the University of the Sunshine Coast.