With each of Australia's 37 universities offering one or more business courses, Australia has developed the reputation for being a key business management training centre for the southern hemisphere, particularly in the south-east Asia region.

Two-thirds of the world's 1.2 million university students currently involved in overseas study come from Asia, and over the next few decades this is forecast to increase to five million.

Much of this expected massive growth in demand will be for business education, judging by the experience at several Australia's Business Schools. Being on the doorstep of south-east Asia means that Australia is well placed to benefit from this massive potential demand for business education. In addition, intense competition now means that Australian business schools now provide world-quality programs to cater for this growing need.

Tailor-made Programs

International education has become a key part of the Australian economy, and currently generates some $1.8 billion annually, compared with minerals ($9 billion) and agriculture, forestry and fisheries ($3 billion).

The comprehensive range of Australia's business study programs allows participants to choose a course which is tailor-made to their planned career direction, and in line with what the global business world now wants - relevant courses on demand as part of a process of lifelong learning.

Business course specialisations now available in Australia cover a wide spectrum, from the management of finance, sports, local government and hotels, to tourism, marketing, public relations and personnel management.

Demand for Business Training

Tourism is a particular growth area in terms of business course specialisation. Within a decade, Australia is expected to annually host more than 3.5 million overseas visitors, each staying an average of 24 nights. The challenge will be to ensure the proper infrastructure, professionally qualified management and trained staff to deal with this growth.

Another area facing increasing demand is marketing. Despite the relatively high cost of such degrees, the demand for postgraduate marketing degrees has ballooned in Australia over the past five years. Most of the students enrolling in these second degree courses are sponsored by their employer, a factor in the growing importance of links between business schools, the professions and industry.

Australian business schools have offered commerce degrees for more than 40 years, usually based on the quantitative academic disciplines. Some business schools have expanded this to cover a much wider range of specialisations, with more practical content about the way the world of business works.

Globalisation of Business Education

Business education is on the crest of a new wave. The rapid globalisation of business on the threshold of the new millennium demands that executives continually upgrade their professional development with a focus on strategic planning, competitiveness and professionalism.

Australia is likely to develop several major regional universities with more than 100,000 students, drawing student cohorts from many APEC countries, in widely dispersed branch campuses, links by information and communications technology. This current IT revolution in global business is bringing new opportunities and challenges for all business professionals. One likely outcome is that Australian business schools will be prompted to become part of global campuses, using the Internet and product 'banding' to become linked to such prestigious centres as Harvard and INSEAD, instead of competing against them.

This trend to internationalisation will mean some significant changes in approaches to courses and programs. One of the primary goals of such regional business schools will be to successfully prepare people for entrepreneurial and management careers on a regional basis. This has implications for the knowledge, competencies and contacts which students will need to acquire during their courses. It also raises the question of the role and status of written and spoken English. Australia's regional universities will need to give greater prominence to languages such as Mandarin.

Author
Kristina Sinclair
Curtin University of Technology