Winning international students to regional Australia: the case for Cairns

In recent years the major Australian city locations of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide have dominated the international student markets. Outside these areas some regional destinations are emerging, gaining recognition and acceptance, and successfully growing their markets. Today, both State and Federal Governments are focusing on this area as a rich source of foreign direct investment into Australia. The successful mix to deliver international education products to the global 'marketspace' includes: a solid university presence (preferably with a strong research focus); a strongly supportive regional schools and ELICOS sector, quality education products, and an easily accessible, safe, environmentally friendly locality. By drawing their diverse educational players into a united, cohesive framework, a regional destination may pursue its educational strategies via a strong, cross-promoting, team-based approach. This exploratory study delivers new insights into opportunities for regional destinations targeting the international student market. It shows the importance of the tertiary or higher education sector, the schools or secondary high school sector and the ELICOS sector to the regional economy, and how these sectors create an educational flow and greater longevity of stay for international students. The 'pros' and 'cons' of the Cairns region of northern Australia, its international education infrastructure, its delivery of suitably targeted educational offerings, and pathways are considered. Marketing regional educational packages to international students requires the matching of provider market deliverables to those of prospective student expectations. Regional perspectives, and initiatives, agent relationships, and quality educational packages may act as international student drawcards to regional Australian destinations (such as Cairns). Smart regional strategies delivered across all sectors, quality communication technologies, solid international business partnerships, and cross-sectorial collaboration, will likely deliver further international students. The schools environment remains a highly challenging sector.

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7th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Business

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1539-722X

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