Global Horizons - The Australian International Education Podcast

Today Dirk Mulder (Founder/Editor, The Koala News ) and and Rob Malicki ( The Global Society ) are trying something new for the Global Horizons podcast: In just 10 minutes, get all the top international education headlines right in your ears while you're at work or cutting up the potatoes at home. We'll still be doing our deep dive analysis every couple of weeks, but wanted to see if peopl...

Normally, here in Global Horizons, you’re used to hearing Dirk Mulder chatting about the latest international education news. But the industry legend was a former director international, and has decades of experience, before becoming the founder/editor of The Koala News. In this episode of Global Horizons , host Rob Malicki sits down with Dirk for a deep dive into his fascinating career. This is a...

We’re back for Season 3 of Global Horizons! Rob Malicki ( Global Society ) and Dirk Mulder ( The Koala News ) kick off the year with special guest Tracy Harris ( ⁠The Koala News⁠ ) , unpacking the latest in international education. From the fallout of the ESOS amendment bill to the rapid rollout of Ministerial Direction 111, we dissect the policy shifts shaking up Australia’s student visa system....

Without doubt, Season 3 of the Global Horizons podcast is going to be our biggest yet! Each fortnight, we'll continue to bring you the biggest Australian international education stories as part of The Koala News' international education news. Every other week we'll be bringing you the great stories from interesting people all across the industry. This season we have conversations with...

Kent Anderson is the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Global Engagement and Partnerships at the University of Newcastle. But critically, he's a fantastic storyteller, and even though I've known him for over a decade, there were plenty of surprising stories in this conversation that I hadn't heard before. More than anyone I know, Kent has the ability to cut to the heart of an issue or question, to reframe...

Rebecca Hall is, you could say, a bit of an Australian international education legend. For decades, she's driven policy and operational change across the sector, from higher education to vocational ed to all levels of Government. I've known Rebecca for the best part of 15 years, and she taught me some of my favourite consulting techniques - techniques that are as robust today as they were back the...

Heidi PIper is the Director, International at Griffith University. In our opinion, Heidi is one of the friendliest, most approachable people in Australian international education - always happy to chat, share and mentor. Heidi's own international experience began as an international student studying in the USA. It was an experience that, in her own words, gave her enormous culture shock and pushed...

It's that time of year... most of us are sprinting (or limping!) to the end. In this episode of Global Horizons, we're having a look back at the big stories of 2024 and having a bit of fun with the outtakes from Season 2 of the podcast. Stay tuned over the Summer for some great new story episodes with legends from around Australian international ed, along with some of the best conversations from S...

When it comes to saying “yes” to life’s wild opportunities, Marnie Watson has mastered the art—and her stories are nothing short of extraordinary. From living through Jakarta’s political unrest in the late ‘90s to spearheading groundbreaking international education projects in Vietnam, Marnie’s journey is as inspiring as it is globe-spanning. In this episode, recorded at the Australian Internation...

Christmas might be just around the corner, but it's clear that we're far from the end. Rather than being a few weeks out from that warm and fuzzy period where the higher ed world goes quiet for a bit, it feels more like entering the eye of a cyclone... a brief moment of calm before the chaos resumes. Over the past few weeks there have been some important news stories: the ESOS legislation failing...

At the start of each podcast episode, I ask my editor to add a "teaser". It's a highlight from the conversation designed to grab the listener's attention and spark some curiosity. When I listened back to this episode, the teaser instantly had me laughing hard because it's about.... lentils! 😂 Not that I'm being flippant (some people take their lentils very seriously!), but straight away you can h...

After a year of chaos, stress and lack of consultation... could it all be for nothing? Earlier this week, the Opposition announced that it would not be supporting the Government's changes to the ESOS legislation. In one way, it's a sigh of relief. But in another, it just creates more uncertainty. In today's episode of the Koala International Education News, presented by Global Horizons, Dirk Mulde...

In this episode of Global Horizons, I'm trying something a little different. Our industry is full of interesting nuances, unique programs, and innovative approaches. So why not dive into some of these for a little explore from time to time? So here's our first little exploration. Veronica Wong is the Manager of UTS' groundbreaking BUiLD program: the Beyond UTS International Leadership Development...

As the AIEC buzz quietly fades away, international educators are now looking ahead to the future... and changes are looming. Yes, there's the pending "caps" legislation, notionally due before Parliament on 18th November... but maybe not as the Government's legislative agenda is still quite full and sitting days are running short.  But changes are looming in other areas too. The New Colombo Plan is...

Today’s guest on Global Horizons is one of the icons of Australian international education, and someone that I’ve learned an enormous amount from throughout my career, Melissa Banks. But there’s a specific reason I was really keen to get this episode published right now. Melissa and I sat down at the recent Australian International Education Conference where one of the pervasive topics of conversa...

Today's episode comes to you direct from the conference floor at the AIEC conference - and what a conference it's been! Holy smokes - I've had so many incredible conversations this week and I can't wait to share some of those wonderful stories over the weeks and months ahead on this podcast :) So much of AIEC is about recognition. It's about recognising your colleagues and friends as you walk arou...

The dreaded Senate report has landed. And as to be expected, the Government's report paints a rosy picture of legislation that just needs a few tweaks in order to be passed. But the dissenting views in the report paint a very different picture. Given almost all of the feedback provided to the committee was negative about the legislation, the reports from the Coalition, Greens and Independent Senat...

In this episode we're talking about student experiences and how best to design them. Today's guest knows a thing or two about that! Linda Rust is the Manager of Global Learning at the University of Melbourne and has been designing international experiences for students from different backgrounds for a long time. In this conversation we talk about designing experiences for students, mostly using le...

We're backing up this week for another episode of The Koala News on the Global Horizons podcast. Why? Because the spectacle of the Senate hearing into the current international ed legislation before Parliament was gifted a surprise 4th day. And what a gift it was! Today, Dirk Mulder and Rob Malicki will take you through the highlights of the day, including stellar performances in the hot seat by a...

In today's episode of Global Horizons, we're continuing to analyse examples from the deepening number of examples of "RoboCaps" - nonsensical, contradictory or just downright unexplainable examples of international student cap allocations to various providers. I wish we could say that we're surprised, but there are now too many examples to count. But at least, in happier news...

"From out of the plane window, Sydney Harbour comes into view and it's one of those sparkling mornings that only Sydney seemed capable of turning on. Little do I know of the hurricane of destruction that I'm flying back into..." In this episode of Global Horizons, I'm sharing something a little different... but powerful. Last year I presented the closing keynote at the IEAA L...

As vocation education providers wrapped up their week last week, faceless folks hidden away in darkened corridors were putting other plans into action. Even as the dust had barely settled on the third day of Senate hearings into the current international education legislation, "send" was being pressed, dropping "international student cap letter bombs" on a wide range of provide...

This episode is packed full of more good stories than you can poke a stick at, and there's a good reason for it: my guest is none other than Jogvan Klein. Sometimes people are described as a "natural-born storyteller", and when I ask Jogvan where he got his knack for telling a good story from, he answered "Everybody in Iceland is a storyteller.... in the Winter there's nothi...

It's been a massive week for Australian International Education: Senate hearings into the ESOS legislation followed by an announcement of caps on international students the following day. International educators could be forgiven for having whiplash and a fair dose of cynicism on Wednesday morning. But there's even more to unpack and in today's episode of The Koala News presented by Gl...

There's been a lot of talk this year about the Government's failure to meaningfully consult on international education policy.  Whilst the major focus, particularly this week, has been on the ESOS senate hearings, and the cap on international students, important changes have also been announced to another critical international education program. The New Colombo Plan (universally known as...