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This research note preliminarily investigates the Australian higher education sector as it pertains to its international student cohort. Australia is one of the major higher education study destinations in the world. The sector is a vital component of its service-orientated economic model which aims to progress a knowledge economy. Therefore, it must compete with other attractive study destinations of the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) for the globally mobile student cohort and who predominantly come from China and India. In recent decades, Australia has committed to a skilled migration policy to which the higher education sector is inextricably tied. It is not an uncommon pathway for international students who have enrolled in and graduated with an Australian degree to then seek employment and permanent residency. Thus, they will likely face the challenge of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test more than once. The IELTS test and its gatekeeping function for non-Australians has a two-fold purpose. Its score assesses both the English language proficiency of international students’ enrolment into Australian universities and plays a role for their entry into the Australian workforce. In this research note, analysis of secondary data included in relevant reports has mainly been reviewed. This initial exploration has enabled for closer examination of the IELTS test’s ubiquity in Australia for the aforesaid dual purposes. It also aims to determine the awareness of the IELTS test in Japan among associated stakeholders. The conclusions of the reports referred to do not reveal the predictive validity of IELTS as an English language proficiency for the Australian workplace. Yet, the reports are more positive in terms of the potential washback of the IELTS test on educational institutions in Japan (China is also mentioned). By gaining more insight into these bifurcate domains, this research note attempts to provide impetus for heightened examination by English Foreign or Second Language (EFL and ESL) educators of the merits and demerits of the IELTS test as an instrument of students’ possible tertiary and career ambitions. Additionally, it highlights the inopportune decoupling of the IELTS test from non-Australians’ study, employment, and/or migrant pathways. For those Japanese students who may desire global mobility or who are transnationally inclined, this research note states that IELTS is an important foundation. |
