How universities can beat Chinese institutions at preparing graduates for the modern economy

Thousands of students come to Australia from China to complete university studies, but do we really know why? Many assume Chinese students go abroad to study with the aim of emigrating, and some of them probably do. But the real driver behind that aim, and also the reason why our education system is more effective than Chinese higher education at preparing graduates to succeed in the modern economy, demands greater scrutiny.

In his upcoming book, The End of Cheap China, Shaun Rein looks at how Chinese higher education is out of line with the needs of its own economy. As the Chinese population ages, and shifts from wanting to make iPhones to buying them, the country can no longer rely on manufacturing. However the education system is not preparing young people for a more service oriented economy. The Chinese curriculum still focuses on rote memorisation and test scores, which do not adequately train Chinese on the creative and analytic ability needed to survive and innovate in a global economy.

By contrast, Australian universities do prepare graduates to be agile in a modern, changing, service-based economy – and should be actively marketing themselves to Chinese markets on these strengths.

Two smart strategies Australia’s proposed new university will use to secure a future academic workforce

Laureate International Universities has applied to open the nation’s fifth private university (as reported in last week's Campus Review).


If approved by the South Australian State Government, the new enterprise will bear the grand title The International University of Australia. The Public Consultation Document is published here.


Australian universities generally are not planning how to retain what Laureate admits is every University's "key asset", its workforce; despite increasing challenges to attract and retain the people they require. Not so at The International University of Australia. Part of its proposed model is to attract PhD students by employing them as academics, noting that the Australian Postgraduate Award provides a stipend that is too low to attract people in professions who can make more money outside of academe. This is a canny way to also secure an on site workforce in fields -- hospitality, adult education, design and business management education -- where it is complex and difficult to manage an army of part time and contract teaching staff. Having teaching staff on site while they also do their research will inevitably lead to more contact with students. It also plans to establish a systematic mentoring process for junior staff. Both these strategies should help create a pipeline of talent in a challenging geographical market (Adelaide) and in a higher education sector that is about to wave bye-bye to a swathe of staff approaching retirement.


The Laureate group can also offer career pathways – opportunities to develop while also providing the lifestyle benefits of travel and living in new countries – that should also help attract and retain a bright young workforce. Other Australian institutions may not be able to provide their staff with the global reach of Laureate, but being smarter about how to attract and retain staff earlier in their careers – there is not much evidence of this going on.


In the short term, Laureate will be looking to appoint new research-focused staff in design, hospitality and global business, who have track records in winning grants. If you are an institution with people like these on staff, I recommend you look at how you might need to retain them. If that’s you, and you’d like some advice on your CV presentation, feel free to get in touch with me.