In an effort to explore new ways of attracting international students to live and study in Australia, the Australian Research Council has funded a three-year study of how income-contingent and HECS-style loans could be used to finance the education of international students and graduates.

As reported by The Australian;

HECS-style loans could be used to resuscitate the ailing international education industry and compensate poor countries for brain drain.

HECS architect Bruce Chapman and outgoing Universities Australia chief executive Glenn Withers are part of a team examining how income-contingent loans (ICLs) could be used to finance the education of international students and foreign graduates.

The three-year study, funded by a $400,000 Australian Research Council linkage grant, is also looking at HECS-style loans for student income support and boosted assistance for Australians who study overseas.

Dr Withers said ICLs could form part of the "third wave" of international education and help guarantee the industry's future.

He said Australia had broken new ground in marketing, the use of agents, work rights and English-language and migration pathways. HECS-style loans could be another way "to keep ahead of the game", he said.

The team will grapple with logistical questions such as the public-private mix of loans, the extent of any government subsidies, which governments would pay those subsidies, and how to ensure students would repay their loans, particularly those from countries with inefficient tax systems.

Professor Chapman said the team would also look at ways of collecting HECS-style repayments from skilled migrants who'd arrived in Australia with qualifications obtained overseas.

To read the full story at The Australian, click here.

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