Why specialised Scholarship Staff are important.

The Australian International Education Conference now seems like an age ago, given it was 2 weeks ago yesterday that I facilitated a workshop on Sponsored Student Strategies.  It was a great workshop, with interesting and involved discussions around all things sponsors, sponsored students and scholarships.  It highlighted the interest in the area, but also unfortunately highlighted the lack of clear direction that most institutions have when it comes to sponsors and sponsored students.

The status that sponsored students and their sponsors have within an institution was a key element of our workshop.  How much a division is respected, understood and valued can have a great influence on its ability to function effectively.  Scholarship Managers and their teams are of course competing for attention in a crowded marketplace; Transnational Education (TNE), mobility and agent management are all important to nearly every institution these days.  Therefore, it comes down to the teams to agitate for resources and support.

I think every Scholarship Manager got a little boost in this effort last week when a message from the Malaysian Consulate in Sydney fell into the hands of the 7.30 program on the ABC (watch the piece here).  The Consulate was warning sponsored students not to attend the speech to be given by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas.  The story was repeated in Fairfax press, Crikey.com.au and elsewhere.  It is events such as this that highlight to universities and TAFEs that while sponsored students might seem like they’re just the same as all other international students, they come with additional, tricky, politics.  It is important that those who have to deal with these situations (and not just the stories that make in the news) are well skilled, resourced and supported to do so.

And this leads me to my plug.  One of the great things, in my humble opinion, to come out of the AIEC this year, was the ratification by the IEAA AGM of a new Special Interest Group on Sponsored Students.  The SIG will give specialised staff (and we are specialised!) an opportunity to further expand and develop their professional skills; a place to network and share (war) stories; and a place where best practice can be seen, adopted and implemented.

I am excited to be the inaugural convener of the Sponsored Student SIG, and I look forward to working with the expert scholarship teams from around Australia to making it a group worth being a part of.

If you’re interested in being part of the SIG, contact me and we will keep you in the loop.