The International Student Market

and the Challenge to Academic

Integrity in a Competitive Higher
Education Landscape

Prof Sam Blay

Sydney City School of Law
TOP Education Institute, Sydney Australia
Introduction: The ‘Unspoken’ Link

Most of the literature and

discourse on academic
integrity focus on student
conduct

Analysis of the
underpinning causes
therefore focus on issues
such as culture and lack of
appropriate or adequate
orientation for students
 Academic Integrity and the Funding
Nexus
• Thesis
– In a diminishing funding environment, there is
intense competition particularly among public
higher education providers for:
• Scarce public funds
• Full fee paying international students where
permissible
– The competition to admit and retain
international students has a direct impact on an
institutions’ ability to address issues of academic
integrity
The Context: The Funding Squeeze
• Before the 2008 financial crises, education
was given top priority in the national budgets
of most OECD countries.
• The share of public expenditure spent on
education increased from 11.8% in 1995 to
13.1% in 2005.
 The Context: The Funding Squeeze
• The OECD reports that ‘since 2010 an
increasing number of countries have put
austerity measures in place as a
consequence of fiscal consolidation’.
• Although GDP rose in most OECD
countries between 2009 and 2010 (on
average by 3%), public expenditure on
educational institutions increased by
only 1% on average and fell in more than
one-third of OECD countries.
• In 2010 public expenditure decreased for
the first time in Austria, Ireland, New
Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the
United States by 2% or less and by more
than 10% in the Russian Federation.
 The Scramble for Alternative Sources for
Funding: The International Student Market

• Attractive/seamless
The visa conditions
competition • Easier part-time
work conditions
for • Offers of
international scholarships
students: • Permanent resident
opportunities
The International Student Numbers:
The Case of Australia
• International students
now make up
Australia’s third largest
export industry and
contribute $22.4 billion
to the Australian
economy.
 The Case of the United States
• The number of
international students in
the US has increased
more than 40% in the last
decade and exceeded the
1million mark in 2015/16
• International students
contributed US$33 billion
to the US economy in
2016, while supporting
more than 400,000 jobs
 International Student Market as Big
Business
• In all host states, international student
education is big business and represent an
important source of funding for many
universities.
• It was 2 million a decade ago; it is close to 5
million now; it is to anticipated to be 8 million
in another decade.
• It is a 100+ billion dollar industry
 The Challenge
When academic enrolments become
big business, sustainability imposes
significant risks for academic integrity
from admissions to graduation

An institution’s ability to continue to

attract students might depend in
some cases on students’ perceptions
of ‘sympathetic rigour’
 Admission Protocols and Integrity
• The intensity of competition for students impacts
on admission protocols
– They may take on sub-standard students to maintain
enrolment numbers
– Where a country allows recruitment agents such as in
New Zealand and Australia who work for commission,
the risk exists for agents to collude with students to
fabricate documents for admission
– Agents may exert pressure on admissions teams to
facilitate admissions
 Students’ Performance
• Once students are admitted,
performance becomes an issue:
– Non-attendance
– Plagiarism
– Contract cheating
– Poor exam performance
Institutional Responses
 Pressure on Staff
• Staff who are strict with attendance and
assessment protocols generally have to deal
with complex administrative reporting
requirements
• A perception that an academic staff member
is strict on academic integrity may be
regarded as ‘not good for business’
• Staff may be generally expected to be lenient
 Signals to the Market
• As a rule, stricter admission and assessment
regimes send signals to the international student
market about institutional expectations
• Where there are education agents in the
recruitment process, this may be exacerbated
with advice to prospective students not to select
an institution
• It is a state of affairs that unwittingly brings
together students, agents and institutions into a
trinity of alliance that undermines academic
integrity to help maintain student enrolments
MANAGING A SUSTAINABLE
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY REGIME
Best Practice: Academic Integrity
Policy
 Best Practice: Academic Integrity
Policy
• Access: The policy is easy to locate and read, and is
concise and comprehensible.
• Approach: There is a statement of purpose with an
educative focus up-front and throughout the policy.
• Responsibility: The policy details responsibilities for
all stakeholders, including students, teachers,
professional staff and senior managers.
• Detail: The policy provides extensive but not excessive
description of breaches, outcomes and processes.
• Support: The policy points to proactive and embedded
systems to enable implementation of the policy