Saturday, October 10, 2009

Wrong end of the blog stick - failure to communicate

If you're after a good example of miscommunication, you need look no further than my previous blog entry about 'Brand Australia' and the comments that follow. Was it a cultural exchange gone wrong or outright blame-mongering or worse xenophobia? I hope it was the former because while I admit my diatribe can be a little abstract, I'm not one to blatantly offend - my interpersonal communication skills are generally better than that. It's up to you but I would explain further by adding that my comments regarding a group of international students and the situation faced by them in Australia recently - where students were left high and dry by private training organisations offering cheap and quick qualifications when it went belly-up - were not directed at international students undertaking university education or vocational education and training provided by Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) Registered Training Organisations (RTO) such as TAFE. I found another blog entry on the same subject but arguably better expressed than mine - Malcolm King explains further in On Line Opinion.
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 11, 2009 at 9:30 PM

    Caroline, what a can of worms! Who profits from the sensationalism and poor reporting? Where does the responsibility lie? I have no answers but I welcome your insights and I will be watching the issues with interest and perhaps greater understanding thanks to you entry.

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  2. Kelly BakerOctober 19, 2009 at 5:10 PM

    I have also been following the media coverage of some of the issues regarding international student education in Australia. For myself, one of the concerns is the regulation of the industry - I see so many random "universities" in Sydney and it makes me wonder what kind of qualifications these schools must have to open their doors. We have the same problem at home of private institutions that open as "University preparation academies" where students big dollars for higher grades. The biggest problem is that these students are often admitted to grueling University programs without adequate preparation. While the Ministry of Education is trying to control this issue, we seem to be doing a better job with regulating the College and University sector that the private school sector. So this is certainly not only an Australian issue.

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