New Colombo Plan changes ‘will reverse equity gains’

Well-intentioned but ill-considered reforms will damage Australia’s outward mobility scheme for students and scholars, experts have warned.

Foreign minister Penny Wong claimed that the changes to the New Colombo Plan (NCP), which funds study abroad in 40 Asia-Pacific countries, will help to reverse a decline in Australians’ command of Asian languages.

“We want NCP participants to bring back not just lasting memories, but also new skills and capabilities,” Ms Wong told a gathering at the Australian National University. “We want more students to spend more time in the region [and] learn languages.”

From 2025, she said, the government would uncap long-term scholarships, strengthen the focus on language and increase the minimum duration of NCP-supported travel from two to four weeks.

International education practitioners said the new minimum would all but rule out participation by disadvantaged and mature-aged students. “It has a severe negative impact on all equity cohorts,” said University of Newcastle deputy vice-chancellor Kent Anderson.

“The real crux is not the financial cost; it’s the opportunity cost. When you move it from two to four weeks…it just becomes too long and too difficult for people with carer responsibilities [or] jobs.”

Before NCP, said Professor Anderson, study abroad “was for rich kids” who mostly went to the US and the UK. Now, he said, Asia was the main destination and participants were far more diverse. The change risked making the NCP a “middle-class welfare” scheme for students who could afford to study overseas anyway.

The NCP has supported study abroad by tens of thousands of undergraduates since its 2014 inception, with near-parity participation by equity groups. Of some 12,000 NCP-funded students in 2019, 30 per cent were the first in their families to attend university, according to an analysis by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Fifteen per cent were from regional Australia, 5 per cent had disabilities and 1 per cent were indigenous.

The department’s spokeswoman said student diversity was a priority for the government. “We will continue to work with universities on the implementation of these reforms to ensure participants come from diverse backgrounds,” she said.

She said that a new external advisory group, to be chaired by assistant foreign affairs minister Tim Watts, would consult key stakeholders “to ensure the NCP remains fit for purpose”. She did not say why the recent reforms had preceded these consultations.

Professor Anderson said four-week study abroad stints presented logistical challenges. They could take place only during mid-year and summer breaks, whereas two-week stretches could be accommodated at any time, while academics would find it difficult to suspend their regular work for four weeks while they accompanied NCP groups.

He said “any practitioner” could have explained these problems, but the government had “skipped” what had previously been rigorous consultation. An advisory board had not met for about a year, he said.

Deakin University international education researcher Ly Tran said her pre-departure surveys of almost 1,400 NCP participants had found that few would have considered stints of more than two weeks – although many changed their minds after a taste of overseas study.

“For shorter mobility, the duration is not as important as the design…and quality of the programme,” Professor Tran said.

US research has found that study abroad stints of between two and eight weeks have more beneficial impacts on students’ graduation rates than longer stints. “The short programmes are where the biggest impact is,” Professor Anderson said.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com