Counting the cost of closing the Endeavour Program – comment by CEO Craig Robertson

Australia’s education diplomacy seems to have become a disposable commodity, if the decision of the Morrison Government to terminate the Endeavour Leadership Program is any indication.

Endeavour has fallen in favour of a scholarship program to encourage domestic and international students to study in regional Australia. Granted, governments are elected to make such difficult decisions. In this case, boosting regions has won favour but at what cost?

Little over a month ago 2,095 Australians were allocated overseas study and research grants, starting from $2,500, and 387 international leaders were awarded the opportunity to further their knowledge and research in Australia. If the Government is returned on 18 May this will be the last cohort of people and institutes, here and abroad, to benefit from the program.

The transformative power of a global experience for students is well documented and it’s no less true for TAFE students. TAFEs tell stories of students stepping on to planes for the first time, being the first in their family to be issued a passport, or learning a few words of a language they never thought they would need, thanks to Endeavor. Most importantly, students are exposed to world leading vocational practice – music production at Hans Zimmer studios in the US, batik fabric practices of Indonesia and large-scale hospitality in China.

Closing Endeavour closes these opportunities for Australian VET students. The New Colombo Plan (NCP), the Government’s flagship mobility program, is open only to Australian university students. Student loans for overseas study is also restricted to higher education students.

Australia has a proud history of achievement in international affairs, made the more remarkable by our antipodean disposition. Doc Evatt as the only Australian to serve as president of the United Nations, Kevin Rudd’s efforts in establishing the G20 in the wake of the GFC financial meltdown and Tony Abbott and Julie Bishops fronting Russia over the downing of MH17 are just some of the remarkable contributions to global order by Australia and Australians.

These are not happenstance. They come from our global perspective. Early agricultural trade, receiving migrants from across the globe and powering the world from our rich resource base. We love to take on the world – we count our Olympic medals with pride. We are the 14^th largest economy in the world yet the fifty-third most populous nation. We depend on global trade, as our domestic consumption is not big enough to sustain our businesses in the face of low consumer prices brought in part from global trade.

In the face of the $32 billion international education exports bring to the Australian economy it is hard to see why $30 million per annum has been sacrificed. Diplomacy underpins exports. This decision will be remarked upon in international education circles across the world and stands in stark contrast to the attitude of other countries.

Earlier this year, Canada announced a ground-breaking new outbound student mobility program, to prepare Canadians with the intercultural skills to compete in a global marketplace – all post-secondary students, not just those at Canadian universities.

The value of such programs is not lost on Labor. Tanya Plibersek in her speech earlier this year to Universities Australia spoke of the value of outbound mobility programs, including the Asiabound short term mobility grants. In that same speech, Ms Plibersek promised to revitalise Australia’s international education strategy with a stronger role for TAFEs. Let’s hope the balance between education diplomacy and education exports is taken into account.