Equal Standards between Local and International Students in the Australian Universities - Research Proposal Example

Are the Australian Universities Well Regulated to Maintain Equal Standards between Local and International prior and after Admission? University Professor (Tutor) Course City/State Date Introduction Australia has both private and government institutions of higher learning that are under the State law of the education act of Australia. There is a total of forty-three universities in Australia with one private, two international and the other forty being public universities. The government of Australia funds the Australia education through various sponsorship programs, loans and grants. Universities are self-accrediting, and each institution has its established legislation and gets much funding from the government. Australian universities administer both local and international students (Admission of Students to Universities, 2009). This proposal will use various study methods to research on the topic and ascertain whether quality is maintained before and after admission. To explore the subject, there are three methods of data collection that will be used. These methods include the interviews, focus group and the digital ethnology. Each method will be performed independently, and the data obtain will be analyzed for comparison and the enable drawing of conclusions (Altbach, Reisberg and Rumbley, 2010). The results that will get from this research will be used in Australian Research Council to advise the educational stakeholders on where it needs to improve or to rectify. Literature Review Various researches have been done on an educational related topic about the Australian system of education and how it is controlled. Studies show that Australia education has gained much demand across the world, and many international students are flooding the Australian institutions as they sought the knowledge (Partridge, 2009). There have also been measures that the Australian Government has put in place to protect the students from overseas and the reputation of the Australia Education (Admission of Students to Universities, 2009). Under these agreements, the institutions are enjoying great freedom as they dictate what they offer to the students without much external scrutiny. However, the institutions are independent, research and teaching remain a critical factor and obligation to the institutions, and more the quality is highly recommended. According to the study that was done in 2002, which surveyed three universities on the investigation of the quality of students that sought education in Australia (Partridge, 2009). The study indicated that most of the students who seek education from Australia who is from abroad are from Asian countries, and they are not taught with English as their first language. This research will be more comprehensive as it will be concerned with the general performance, but not just in the language only (Craven and Mooney, 2011). This study also will apply three different methods as compared to the earlier study that used two methods that are interview and the focus groups only. This study will use the two methods that were utilized in the previous survey and an extra one on the digital ethnography. This study will prove to be more reliable since the methods used are many that increases the accuracy of the information obtained. When methods that are used are many the data obtained is compared to remove the errors. This aspect improves the reliability of the data obtained. The study showed that the lack of comprehension of English affects their performance in Australian education, since it uses the English language. This report resulted in some questioning on the quality of the students who are admitted to the Australian universities (Bingham, 2009). Those students with poor English skills fared poorly in the academics since; the curriculum uses it in testing (Craven and Mooney, 2011). Another study that was done the same year indicated that some international students had problems in interpreting the language and were facing a lot of difficulties in studying in Australia; this meant that they required an interpreter, but it was costly to some. That study used structured interviews with a bias to students only. This study will cut across all the university’s stakeholders who are involved in academics. This issue caused a lot of problems to the students’ performance. Another study done by Ombudsman showed that students from abroad are of benefit to the local students as they add value to the local students in various ways (Craven and Mooney, 2011). However, the study indicated that the international students have slightly lower pass rates compared to the local students. The problem extended to all areas of study. The interviews will use short structured standardized questions that will be asked to the respondents. The questions that shall be asked will be simple and understandable to enable the responses to be relevant and correct. The focus groups will have ten members per each cluster who shall discuss and deliberate the topic. The focus groups will have the moderators to control them. The information that will be gathered shall be analyzed to draw the correct findings (Altbach, Reisberg and Rumbley, 2010). Methodology This part of the research will entail digital ethnography, focus groups and interviewing. The study will use these different ways of collecting data, as it will give adequate information that can be relied upon in drawing conclusions. Interviews The interviews will be conducted in various universities to get the students’ point of view and that of the staff about their perception of the quality of education. The study will be targeting more than half of the individuals in the institution. The responses will be noted down, and the analysis will be done later to verify the data and draw conclusions from the same data. The interview will not be biased to either International or the local students (Craven and Mooney, 2011). The information gotten from the interviewees will be recorded on both the tape recorder and the notebook. The interview will use standardized short structured interviews. Questions will be uttered one at a time to give the respondent adequate time to comprehend and respond accordingly and give the right information as per the question. The students and other parties that will be interviewed will be encouraged to respond to the questions that are asked (Publishing, 2009). In the research, as the interview will be conducted the interviewer will remain as neutral as possible to not give any leading information to the respondent. This aspect will enhance the quality of the research the information that will be obtained will be neutral and not biased to any aspect. A lot of carefulness will be taken not to confuse the information given by the interviewees. This point will ensure that the quality and originality of the data obtained will be maintained. Clear and precise questions will be formulated to avoid ambiguity and to ease the pressure of thinking as the interviewees are responding to the questions. Again, precaution will be taken not to lose the control of the interview as if this happens the information obtained may be distorted, and the intended purpose may be lost (Lynch and Yeigh, 2010). The discussion will tend to pursue deeper to get the information from the correspondents. The data obtained from this method will be compared with the data obtained from other methods, and relevant comparisons will be made. Any form of criticism to this interviewing process can be directed to the number of people who will be reached and the information they can be able to give. Focus groups Focus groups will be constituted of about ten students and mandated to gather information that will give backing to the interviews. This method may prove successful since students will be probing their counterparts that can be more reliable and give adequate information that can be least distorted and given without fear or favor. These discussions will provide elaborate information concerning the information needed (Marginson, 2008). Again, the success of this method may be attributed to the fact that the individuals providing the information are the same who are experiencing the effects and have seen the first-hand information towards the intended information. The questions that are to be deliberated on should be tabulated before the discussion starts, this will enhance total participation to the questions, as the deliberation will going on. The questions will be all directed to the purpose of the research and more importantly the relevance of the study. The information gather from the discussions will be noted to be compared with the other information that will be obtained from the other methods. The focus groups will have the questions that will be formulated to enable them discuss conclusively. The information that will concentrate will on the daily experiences and their view of the Australian universities whether is well regulated to maintain equal standards between local and international students prior and after admission. The discussion will be done conclusively on the subject matter, and the relevant recommendations and conclusions will be made (Monie and Wise, 2013). The criticism that might arise from this method of study can be the diversity in the points of view of different participants that can slow down the speed of the deliberation of the issues. The focus group will prove to be efficient since the number of the individuals required in a group is relatively smaller and the information that will be obtained will quite comprehensive The focus group shall have a moderator who will lead the group and will be someone who can give the group freedom to deliberate the topic of discussion. This method of study will generate ideas that can be more useful in another aspect if not to the original topic of discussion. This method of study is also widely used in much social science researchers and will prove to be a reliable tool in this aspect. Some ethical problems may arise as some participants may not be willing to disclose all the sensitive information. Carefulness will be observed to avoid irritating the members in order for them to give adequate information. Digital ethnography Digital ethnography will be also used to analyze qualitatively the data that will be gathered from the interviews and the focus groups through the entire social research. The data collection will involve participant observation (Marginson, 2008). The data in the interviews and the focus groups will be reconceptualized by the digital ethnographic method. During the analysis, the essential elements of the study will be put down to make sure that the historical and the social context is maintained. The data obtained will be prepared for analysis. The study will tell the feeling of the local students concerning the Australian education. The references will be added to the data to keep the location. The structures of the text will be examined, and an attempt will be made to establish the findings. There are other approaches like Content analysis and Q-methodology method. These methods could have been used but they are relatively passive. The other reasons for not using them is because they analyze information that may either be supporting or disapproving the hypothesis and they are slow compared to the digital ethnography. They omit some tacit knowledge or even crucial cultural information that is not directly attached to the Australian education. The digital ethnography approach will mediate; reconfigure embodiments to the digital form. This way is quite fast and efficient in analyzing the data compared to any other method of analyzing data in social science. Importance of Research Australian universities should be maintained at equal standards between local and international students prior and after admission (Preston, 2009). This study will help in making sure that the education that is offered in the major institution of Australia is scrutinized to maintain quality and reliability of it. The research will also bring out other factors that are affecting the education system of Australia as students will discuss them in the focus groups and identify them (Mullins, Quintrell and Hancock, 2011). The participants of the focus groups will get knowledge on how to conduct studies on their own, which will boost their skills for research. The research will give education stakeholders the relevant information so as to improve where necessary and rectify the flaws that will be identified by the school system may be causing the decrease in quality of the education. Finally, the study will help in understanding the type of the school system and the quality that is expected from the Australian educational systems. Conclusion The research aims to get to know whether the Australian universities are well regulated to maintain equal standards between local and international students prior and after admission. The study will employ the three types of research methods for collecting the data. The methods that will be used include the interviews, the focus groups, and the digital analysis. All the data that will be obtained will be tabulated, and the relevant conclusions will be drawn from the information obtained. The Australian Research Council based on its relevance to the society and to the reliability to the scholars will fund the research. Since the study has various methods that will be employed it will give a reliable results that can be used to help make the Australian education better and more faithful to the scholars and the society. The research deserves a lot of recognition, as it will give limelight on the standard of education that is provided in institutions of higher learning in Australia. The study will tackle the prospect of double standards that can be present in the educational systems of Australia. References Admission of Students to Universities. (2009). Nature, 183(4677), pp.1723-1723. Altbach, P., Reisberg, L. and Rumbley, L. (2010). Trends in global higher education. Rotterdam [etc.]: Sense Publishers. Bingham, D. (2009). CIS higher education directory 2010. Woodbridge: John Catt Educational. Brawley, S. (2010). The internationalization of the scholarship of teaching and learning. History Australia, 4(2), pp.46.1-46.10. Craven, R. and Mooney, J. (2011). Seeding success in indigenous Australian higher education. Lynch, D. and Yeigh, T. (2010). Teacher education in Australia. Marginson, S. (2008). Education and public policy in Australia. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press. 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