Education Minister Dan Tehan asks universities how to get international students to study on regional campuses (CMM October 10) and the IRU lobby has a plan, which includes the feds butting-out.

“There is no place for directing students to particular destinations, which would only have the negative impact of deterring students from coming to Australia at all. Amendments to the visa system to create incentives for students to study in particular locations could be considered but need to work with the broader immigration framework,” the Innovative Research Universities argue in a new position paper.

Instead, the lobby suggests all-of-industry approaches, including state and local governments should develop regional strategies – IRU points to the Queensland study cluster strategy and Study Geelong.  It also proposes universities with city and country campuses create opportunities for students to move across their networks. There is also a challenge for regional universities, with figures in this plan showing RUN institutions having 12 000 international students at metro campuses, compared to 7 000 outside cities.

The IRU also argues more research infrastructure in regions would attract international postgrads. “Research students are primarily attracted by potential supervisors and research expertise, relevance to the research issue, rather than the location or even the institution itself.”

However, the IRU cautions against any specific sell of regional study. “Promoting areas of Australia as ‘regional’ to international (or indeed Australian) students could well prove counterproductive. Prospective students need to learn about the particular cities and institutions and what they offer. Any sense of encouragement to areas that are implied to be less attractive or interesting but needing a boost will not be effective.”