AUSTRALIA: High scores for internationalisation

The strength of Australia's quality assurance regime and government transparency have seen it placed second in a new index which rates countries on their policies regarding the engagement and promotion of internationalisation in higher education, writes Julie Hare for The Australian. Germany heads the list of 11 nations.

Australia scored the highest in quality assurance and recognition, second on openness, and third on access and equity in the index, which was developed by the British Council. "It captures and measures the national system in how prepared it is to engage internationally," said Janet Ilieva, head of higher education intelligence and research for the British Council.

Ilieva said the first index was a pilot, with an index on Southeast Asian countries due out by mid-March. "The index puts the whole notion of internationalisation into a more tangible or quantifiable framework," Ilieva said. "The trend I expect we will see in the future is developing countries becoming much more active and open in their engagement with the rest of the world. China and Malaysia are already scoring highly which indicates their political systems want to interact more openly with other countries."
Full report on The Australian site