AUSTRALIA NSW WILL LOBBY BUSINESS COMMUNITY TO EMPLOY MORE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN A BIG TO CAPTURE BIGGER SHARE OF OVERSEAS STUDENT MARKET AS NEARLY 200,000 FOREIGN STUDENTS STUDY IN THIS STATE
Study NSW’s Patricia Forsythe aims to link up business, foreign graduates
NSW will lobby its business community to employ more international graduates in a bid to capture an even bigger share of the overseas student market.
Patricia Forsythe has promised in her new role as chairwoman of Study NSW to build a bridge between students and employers to help them gain a meaningful work experience after they complete their studies.
“NSW attracts over 200,000 students at any point in time. The growth figures are strong but we can never rest on our laurels,” said Ms Forsythe, whose appointment will be formally announced tomorrow.
“What we are really focused on is the fact we are competing not just with other states in Australia but with Canada, the UK, the US and increasingly Asian countries.”
Ms Forsythe, who is chief executive of the Sydney Business Chamber, said one of her early goals would be to encourage NSW businesses to embrace the many assets that international graduates had to offer.
“There is still an untold story about post-study work rights and I’m not sure all businesses are aware of that,” Ms Forsythe said. “We need to make the case as to why employing international students is good for business in NSW.
“There is no doubt that the success of international education is a significant economic driver for the state. But it’s a two-way street; business benefits from a buoyant international education market, as do universities and other providers, but we need to do more at the other end in giving graduates worthwhile employment.”
In its budget released last month, the NSW government handed Study NSW a nearly 60 per cent increase in funding, giving it $7.4 million across four years. International education is second only to coal to the NSW economy as a foreign exchange earner, contributing more than $8 billion to state coffers and providing about 46,000 jobs.
Ms Forsythe said while Sydney-based universities attracted the lion’s share of international student enrolments, she was confident that businesses throughout the state would get behind Study NSW’s message of employing graduates. While NSW accounts for more than 100,000 of the 360,000 international student enrolments nationally, its five regional universities attract just 30,000 enrolments, with University of Wollongong accounting for almost half of those.
Ms Forsythe replaces Stephanie Fahey as chairwoman of the destination marketer. Ms Fahey resigned this year to take up her new position as chief executive of Austrade.
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