Introduction

Understanding the wellbeing of international students requires a discussion of the global market context within which cross-border education is taking place. At the heart of the international education strategies of many exporter governments is the ongoing competitive push for global market share. Australia and New Zealand typify this export-maximising approach, as we argue in the coming chapters. Before embarking on an analysis of these two countries, however, it is important to survey the political economy of the global market within which nation-states are competing, and this is the central purpose of this chapter.

The international education market is fast growing and diverse, in terms of the source countries of students, in the provider nations that provide educational services, in the types of institutional provider and in the fields and levels of study, and in the modes of delivery of cross-border degrees. Primary national motives behind international education range from profit making to foreign aid, with a variety of provision in between that combines subsidised cultural mixing and part self-financed career development. Different nations favour different approaches, and these embody a variety of policy objectives and cultural educational traditions. Economic and cultural globalisation in an unequal world are manifest in the growing role of global business and global English; in the larger changes to regulatory and institutional structures and arrangements; in the increased impact of time–space compression; and in the global map of options now facing millions of students and educators. The increasingly global character of tertiary education activities is creating more pressure on the regulatory systems that continue to be largely national in form (Marginson, 2011a).

The first section of this chapter provides an overview of the global student market through the lens of student mobility. It includes discussion of the market factors that drive mobility, the political economy of the education export industry and the special case of doctoral education, which does not usually attract fees but is instead subsidised mainly by scholarship support. The next two sections discuss the market position of, and the key trends engaging, the main Englishspeaking export countries that are competing with Australia and New Zealand for market share.