Abstract
The role Australian higher education plays for migrants and refugees is shaped by a range of economic, social and political forces. The greatest impact results from significant shifts in immigration and tertiary education policies over the past three decades. The Australian immigration programme is designed to address identified gaps in the labour market by attracting highly skilled and educated migrants. The intake of refugees is limited, with Australia implementing a harsh, highly politicized policy aimed at deterring applicants.
Higher education is a key export and universities are heavily dependent on international student revenue. There are clear links between international student demand for higher education and immigration policy, which provides opportunities for graduating international students to remain and work in Australia. There are also significant differences in the opportunities available to immigrants from different socio-economic status backgrounds. Higher education can provide a pathway for those immigrant students with means but the sector is inaccessible to many others. The unique way in which Australian universities expand and entrench opportunities provides important lessons about the role of higher education in a modern economy.
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Leahy, M., Polesel, J., Gillis, S. (2020). Escher’s Staircase: Higher Education and Migration in Australia. In: Slowey, M., Schuetze, H.G., Zubrzycki, T. (eds) Inequality, Innovation and Reform in Higher Education. Lifelong Learning Book Series, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28227-1_2
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