Australian Business Education
Comes of Age
With each of Australia's 37 universities
offering one or more business courses, Australia has developed
the reputation for being a key business management training
centre for the southern hemisphere, particularly the south-east
Asia region.
Two-thirds of the world's 1.2 million university students
currently involved in overseas study come from Asia, and over
the next few decades this is forecast to increase to five
million.
Much of this expected massive growth in demand will be for
business education, judging by the experience at several Australia's
Business Schools. Being on the doorstep of south-east Asia
means that Australia is well placed to benefit from this massive
potential demand for business education. In addition, intense
competition now means that Australian business schools now
provide world-quality programs to cater for this growing need.
Tailor-made Programs
International education has become a key part of the Australian
economy, and currently generates some $1.8 billion annually,
compared with minerals ($9 billion) and agriculture, forestry
and fisheries ($3 billion).
The comprehensive range of Australia's business study programs
allows participants to choose a course which is tailor-made
to their planned career direction, and in line with what the
global business world now wants - relevant courses on demand
as part of a process of lifelong learning.
Business course specialisations now available in Australia
cover a wide spectrum, from the management of finance, sports,
local government and hotels, to tourism, marketing, public
relations and personnel management.
 Demand
for Business Training
Tourism is a particular growth area in terms of business
course specialisation. Within a decade, Australia is expected
to annually host more than 3.5 million overseas visitors,
each staying an average of 24 nights. The challenge will be
to ensure the proper infrastructure, professionally qualified
management and trained staff to deal with this growth.
Another area facing increasing demand is marketing. Despite
the relatively high cost of such degrees, the demand for postgraduate
marketing degrees has ballooned in Australia over the past
five years. Most of the students enrolling in these second
degree courses are sponsored by their employer, a factor in
the growing importance of links between business schools,
the professions and industry.
Australian business schools have offered commerce degrees
for more than 40 years, usually based on the quantitative
academic disciplines. Some business schools have expanded
this to cover a much wider range of specialisations, with
more practical content about the way the world of business
works.
Globalisation of Business Education
Business education is on the crest of a new wave. The rapid
globalisation of business on the threshold of the new millennium
demands that executives continually upgrade their professional
development with a focus on strategic planning, competitiveness
and professionalism.
Australia is likely to develop several major regional universities
with more than 100,000 students, drawing student cohorts from
many APEC countries, in widely dispersed branch campuses,
links by information and communications technology. This current
IT revolution in global business is bringing new opportunities
and challenges for all business professionals. One likely
outcome is that Australian business schools will be prompted
to become part of global campuses, using the Internet and
product 'banding' to become linked to such prestigious centres
as Harvard and INSEAD, instead of competing against them.
This trend to internationalisation will mean some significant
changes in approaches to courses and programs. One of the
primary goals of such regional business schools will be to
successfully prepare people for entrepreneurial and management
careers on a regional basis. This has implications for the
knowledge, competencies and contacts which students will need
to acquire during their courses. It also raises the question
of the role and status of written and spoken English. Australia's
regional universities will need to give greater prominence
to languages such as Mandarin.
Author
Kristina Sinclair
Curtin University of Technology
|
