Internationalisation policies & student exchange programs in Australian & New Zealand universities

In response to the changing international market, the Australian and New Zealand governments have placed greater emphasis on internationalisation within the tertiary education sector. Subsequently, universities have implemented internationalisation initiatives such as attracting international students to on-campus courses, and student mobility programs. While the literature regarding overseas students’ experiences studying in Australia and New Zealand is broad, to date there has been limited consideration of the ‘internationalisation’ of domestic students. As student exchange programs represent an opportunity for local students to develop intercultural competencies, there is a need for research to examine the issues affecting student participation in academic mobility programs. Consequently, this study examined the relationship between student participation rates in university exchange programs and the institutional policy and strategic goals at 33 Australian and New Zealand universities. The results show that there is a trend between the explicitness of the strategic plans regarding student exchange and the proportional rate of outgoing students. As the success of a policy’s implementation within an organisation is affected by factors external to policy itself, it is recommended that future research focus on other push-pull factors at both the institutional and individual levels.