When I sat down with Ainslie Moore, I thought we’d spend 45 minutes doing what we’ve almost never done in the past 25 years: talk without an agenda.

We made it about 30 seconds.

Because Ainslie opens with the kind of confession that tells you exactly what sort of episode this is going to be, she has a “flight home story” she “will not tell the rest of the world”… and then casually admits she once booked a train from London to Brussels because she thought that’s where The Hague was.

From there, we’re off. Travel disasters, sliding-door moments, and the deeper thread underneath it all: how someone goes from being a 17-year-old international student with a life-changing exchange experience, to becoming a proper policy operator who can move a whole system with the right alliance, the right incentives, and the right message.

And yes, we do get into the line of the episode: people call it “herding cats” when you’re trying to coordinate universities, but the secret to herding cats is moving the food bowl.

• Ainslie’s first overseas trip at 17: turbulence, flooded toilets, and a mid-flight hostage threat involving a statue… which somehow ended up in Women’s Day.

• The exchange year in Spain that changed everything, including the moment she realised she could become someone braver, louder, more confident than the “shy person” she arrived as.

• A brilliant, plain-English lesson in what Universities Australia used to be, back when it was still the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (AVCC).

• Policy advice that actually helps: don’t do it alone, find shared interest, build an alliance, and remember communication matters as much as the policy.

• Why climate action has become unavoidable in international education, including student expectations and what CANIE exists to push the sector to do (beyond “we teach sustainability”).

• Ainslie’s New Zealand reality check: small can be nimble, good ideas can move fast, and policy can go from paper to legislation inside a year.

It’s funny, too, how the conversation keeps flipping between the “romance” of international education (travel, language, identity, becoming more yourself) and the machinery that makes it possible (policy settings, incentives, and the behind-the-scenes work nobody sees). It’s two sides of the same coin, and Ainslie lives right at the centre of it.

Global Horizons is a production of The Global Society, Australia’s Learning Abroad support company. Our editor is Len Zamora and our distribution specialist is Angelo Ablao. Rob Malicki is the executive editor and host. The podcast wouldn’t be possible without The Koala News, Australia’s international education news website. This episode is supported by Choosing Your Uni, Australia's unique, AI-powered platform that helps domestic and international students to find the right institution for them, and that helps Australian institutions to access new markets.

For guest suggestions and feedback, email podcast@globalsociety.com.au

Episode highlights

“This report reads almost like a postmortem of a world-class Aussie industry being systematically dismantled.” That’s how this week’s conversation starts, and honestly, it sets the tone.

In this episode of Global Horizons, Dirk Mulder and I sit down in the week of 16 February and try to make sense of a sector that feels like it’s accelerating in ten different directions at once. New data, new panels, new policy pressure, and the kind of political rhetoric that has a habit of turning complex issues into easy headlines.

We begin with English Australia’s newly released 2025 visa data, and it is bleak reading for anyone who cares about the health of the broader international education ecosystem. The numbers point to a sustained contraction in independent ELICOS visas, and the flow-on effects are not abstract. They are people, jobs, institutions, and capability.

Then, we shift to the International Student Representative Council, which is making a meaningful move towards rebuilding a stronger national student voice, appointing an inaugural expert panel with serious credentials. It is one of those developments that might sound procedural on paper, but could matter a lot if it helps restore advocacy and legitimacy in a space that has been battered since COVID.

Along the way, we dig into an unusual sign of public pushback from within the sector, a change.org petition targeting the onshore commission ban, and what that might signal about the next phase of industry response.

A few highlights we unpack in this episode:

• English Australia’s 2025 data, and why the visa fee settings hit ELICOS differently to higher education

• The estimated job impact, and what it means when an industry loses capacity, not just revenue

• The International Student Representative Council’s expert panel, and why student voice has been missing for too long

• The onshore commission ban petition, the ethics, the optics, and the unintended consequences for genuine student support

• Germany’s record-breaking growth as an alternate destination, and why it keeps coming up in these conversations

• AIEC is already on the horizon, key dates, and a gentle nudge to new voices to put their hand up

We also take a quick detour into AI, not as a gimmick, but because it is becoming impossible to ignore how fast expectations are shifting, especially for students. The default is rapidly becoming instant answers, personalised guidance, and always-on support, and that changes the bar for everyone.

By the end, this episode is less about one headline and more about a pattern. Where policy settings land hardest. Who gets protected, who gets squeezed, and what the global market does when Australia decides to “de-scale” an export industry that has spent decades building trust.

Global Horizons is a production of The Global Society, Australia’s Learning Abroad support company. Our editor is Len Zamora and our distribution specialist is Gelo Ablao. Rob Malicki is the executive editor and host. The podcast wouldn’t be possible without The Koala News, Australia’s international education news website. This episode is supported by Choosing Your Uni, Australia's unique, AI-powered platform that helps domestic and international students to find the right institution for them, and that helps Australian institutions to access new markets.

For guest suggestions and feedback, email podcast@globalsociety.com.au

When I sat down with Ian Aird, the CEO of English Australia, I expected we’d talk mostly about the sector’s current policy turbulence, and what it’s like trying to advocate when the rules keep shifting.

We absolutely go there.

But what I didn’t expect was how quickly the conversation turned into something more personal, more human, and (weirdly) more useful for anyone trying to make sense of careers, leadership, and what “good decisions” actually look like in real life.

Because Ian’s path to the “big chair” wasn’t a neat, straight-line plan. It was part instinct, part risk, part luck, and part turning up in Spain with basically no plan at all, walking the streets with a CV, and hoping the bank account didn’t hit zero first.

And then there’s the moment that still makes me laugh: he was lined up to go to Japan… until he found out he’d have to cut his hair. Except it’s not really about the hair. It’s about the sliding-door moments, the tiny decisions that end up shaping the whole story, and what happens when you actually ask the question you’re “not supposed” to ask.

In this episode, we get into:

• What it’s really like stepping into a CEO role mid-whirlwind, including Ian’s brutally honest version of “strategy” in a small organisation (hint: triage).

• Why the last two years have felt uniquely chaotic, from visa and legislative change through to constant policy pivots.

• COVID as a career breaker and a career re-route, and the uncomfortable realisation that the world has now learned it can shut borders fast, and do it again.

• What today’s students need that they did not used to, including the hidden “life skills gap” for students who lost formative years to lockdowns, and why support needs are higher than many people realise.

• Why language is not just words, and why the “earpiece that translates everything” still misses the point of learning how humans actually communicate.

There’s a part of the conversation where we’re talking about Year 12 exams and the pressure young people feel to “get it right” right now, and Ian says something that should be printed on a sticker and slapped onto half the careers advice floating around out there: “Don’t convey that what you do now will lock you in for life.”

It’s a simple line, but it cuts straight through the panic. Yes, some decisions matter. But the myth that one choice defines you forever is, in Ian’s words, absolute garbage.

And because I can’t resist a good left turn, we also end up in Southeast Asia, the chaos of learning how to cross a road in a new country, and why being overwhelmed is sometimes exactly the point.

If you work in international education, advocacy, student experience, or you’re just trying to build a career that does not feel like a straightjacket, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

Global Horizons is a production of The Global Society, Australia’s Learning Abroad support company. Our editor is Len Zamora and our distribution specialist is Angelo Ablao. Rob Malicki is the executive editor and host. The podcast wouldn’t be possible without The Koala News, Australia’s international education news website. This episode is supported by Choosing Your Uni, Australia's unique, AI-powered platform that helps domestic and international students to find the right institution for them, and that helps Australian institutions to access new markets. For guest suggestions and feedback, email podcast@globalsociety.com.au

I didn’t think, in my life, that I’d be recording a podcast… and I definitely didn’t think I’d be talking about taxation in India. Yet here we are.

In this episode of Global Horizons, Rob Malicki and Dirk Mulder are back for 2026, slightly dazed by how January vanished, and diving straight into the stories that are shaping the international education conversation right now.

We start with the politics-meets-perception problem. Net overseas migration is down (the numbers have shifted materially), but the public debate is still running at full volume. Dirk breaks down the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics release and why departures are a big part of the story that often gets missed. Then we get into student housing, including the latest student accommodation signals coming through.

A few highlights we unpack along the way:

• What the latest migration figures suggest, and why the “bubble” effect post-COVID is still working its way through

• Why departures matter just as much as arrivals when people talk about students and housing

• The global trend in purpose-built student accommodation demand, and what’s changing in student expectations

• The surprisingly important India tax changes that could reduce friction and cost for families sending money overseas

• The submissions closing for the Australian Tertiary Education Commission legislative review, and why the sector is nervous about how decisions get made

Then we bring in our guest, Jessie Gardner Russell, National President of Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations. Jessie takes us inside the reality of postgraduate life right now, including food insecurity, cost-of-living pressure, and why career support is showing up as a much bigger need for international postgrads than domestic students.

Jessie also explains CAPA’s work on a big, practical question: if PhD stipends sit below the poverty line, what does that do to research productivity nationally, and what happens if you fix it?

We also cover:

• The HECS repayment threshold change, and why it matters for fresh grads

• The placement payment, what it solves, and where the gaps still are (hello, allied health)

• The employment support problem for international postgrads, and why it’s a missed opportunity Australia can’t really afford

Global Horizons is a production of The Global Society, Australia’s Learning Abroad support company. Our editor is Len Zamora and our distribution specialist is Angelo Ablao.

Rob Malicki is the executive editor and host. The podcast wouldn’t be possible without The Koala News, Australia’s international education news website. This episode is supported by Choosing Your Uni, Australia's unique, AI-powered platform that helps domestic and international students to find the right institution for them, and that helps Australian institutions to access new markets.

For guest suggestions and feedback, email podcast@globalsociety.com.au

Dominic de Moura McCarthy is one of those guests who makes you quietly sit up straighter.

He’s 24, he’s done ballet for 15 years, he taught himself how to build a personal brand before most of us even knew what that meant, and he’s the kind of person who doesn’t wait for an “official invitation” to start something meaningful.

When Dom joins me on Global Horizons, we go back to Mackay, regional North Queensland, where a teenage decision to study French (because ballet terminology is French, of course) became a hinge moment that eventually led him overseas, into the New Colombo Plan, and deep into youth leadership work across the Pacific and Latin America.

There’s a sliding-doors moment early on too: Dom moves to Brisbane to study dance at QUT, hears a blunt “this course isn’t for you unless you want to dance every day”, ends up in hospital that first week, and makes the call to switch to business instead. That one decision quietly changes the trajectory of everything that follows.

Along the way, we get tactical about visibility and influence. Not the braggy kind, but the “how do you show up and contribute when you don’t feel like the expert” kind. We talk imposter syndrome, tall poppy syndrome, why community service can be the best personal brand strategy going around, and how Dom’s faith and sense of service keep him moving when most people would hesitate.

In this episode, we cover:

• Dom’s “French via ballet” origin story, and how Distance Education pre-COVID shaped his confidence

• The New Colombo Plan experience that turned curiosity into a global pathway

• The QUT-to-business switch, and how to make a call when you’re terrified of closing doors

• Personal branding without the show pony energy, plus practical ways to build the muscle

• Why volunteering and youth development work can become your sharpest leadership training

• A rare honest chat about setbacks, and why most people don’t reflect on them enough

Global Horizons is a production of The Global Society, Australia’s Learning Abroad support company. Our editor is Len Zamora and our distribution specialist is Gelo Ablao. Rob Malicki is the executive editor and host. The podcast wouldn’t be possible without The Koala News, Australia’s international education news website. This episode is supported by Choosing Your Uni, Australia's unique, AI-powered platform that helps domestic and international students to find the right institution for them, and that helps Australian institutions to access new markets. For guest suggestions and feedback, email podcast@globalsociety.com.au

A student storms into Melanie Duncan’s office in tears, shaking with certainty that Australia is an “awful place”… because we eat our dogs.

The evidence? He saw “dog bones” at the supermarket.

It sounds ridiculous, until you realise what Melanie has spent nearly three decades learning the hard way: without context, even the most well-meaning support can miss the mark.

Recorded at the IEC conference, this episode is a warm, funny, occasionally brutal reality check on what international student support really looks like when it is done properly. Melanie takes us from the classic student-services moments you laugh about later, to the high-stakes cases that stay with you for years, and the quiet expertise it takes to hold it all together.

Along the way, we unpack:

• Why the best practitioners become masters of the right question at the right time

• What “visa-informed” support actually means, and why it cannot be replaced by a knowledge base

• The cultural faux pas that shaped Melanie’s early years, and the training that changed everything

• How “international student services” is being mainstreamed, and why Melanie calls it a dying art

• The political rhetoric that has fuelled uncertainty for students, and frustration across the sector

• The part nobody wants to talk about: COVID, staff cuts, and losing experienced practitioners when students still needed them

• What it is like to step out of institutions and build a consulting business built on one idea, compliance done well should equal a better student experience

There’s mentorship, nostalgia, a few sharp edges, and a genuine reminder that international education is still full of people who care deeply, even when the systems around them make it harder than it should be.

Global Horizons is a production of The Global Society, Australia’s Learning Abroad support company. Our editor is Len Zamora and our distribution specialist is Angelo Ablao. Rob Malicki is the executive editor and host. The podcast wouldn’t be possible without The Koala News, Australia’s international education news website. This episode is supported by Choosing Your Uni, Australia's unique, AI-powered platform that helps domestic and international students to find the right institution for them, and that helps Australian institutions to access new markets.

For guest suggestions and feedback, email podcast@globalsociety.com.au

It’s the first Global Horizons News episode of 2026, and Rob Malicki and Dirk Mulder are back at the desk with that familiar mix of “happy new year” energy and “wait, what changed while we were away?” realism.

They start with PRISMS and a South Asia assessment-level update that feels, frankly, out of cycle and out of sync. The headline move is Bangladesh, which only recently moved up, now dropping two assessment levels in one hit, and it sets off a wider conversation about policy volatility, recruitment strategy, and just how hard it is to plan when the goalposts keep shifting.

Along the way, you’ll hear them unpack:

• The South Asia assessment level changes (including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka), and why the timing matters for providers trying to plan recruitment responsibly

• The question hanging over it all: what triggers these changes, and should a ministerial trip be enough to reshape settings this quickly?

• A rare moment of mainstream coverage, including a news.com.au write-up, and a longer sit-down interview with Phil Honeywood on Channel 7’s The Issue

Then the conversation moves to ATEC and a detail that could easily slip past most people unless you’re watching legislation closely. Dirk draws on analysis from Andrew Norton to explain how international student allocations, and the power to cap, could be embedded through the proposed Australian Tertiary Education Commission, with serious questions about independence, process, and years of compounding uncertainty.

They also cover:

• What ATEC’s role could mean in practice if international student allocations become one of its key functions, and why that design choice raises eyebrows

• TEQSA’s new requirements for offshore delivery approvals, including the looming reality of application fees and yet more compliance weight on transnational education activity

And then, in the spirit of not leaving you in a pure regulatory fog, they finish with an actual milestone worth pausing for: Adelaide University is now live, the new combined institution born from the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. There’s congratulations, curiosity about rankings impact, and a few side-eye questions about what happens next, in Adelaide and possibly beyond.

Global Horizons is a production of The Global Society, Australia’s Learning Abroad support company. Our editor is Len Zamora and our distribution specialist is AngeloAblao.

Rob Malicki is the executive editor and host. The podcast wouldn’t be possible without The Koala News, Australia’s international education news website.

This episode is supported by Choosing Your Uni, Australia's unique, AI-powered platform that helps domestic and international students to find the right institution for them, and that helps Australian institutions to access new markets.

For guest suggestions and feedback, email podcast@globalsociety.com.au

In this episode of Global Horizons, Peter and I wander through three and a half decades of international education, from the days when Wollongong was considered “aggressive” for opening an office in Japan, to the launch and heartbreaking end of The Scholar Ship, to his 15 years shaping JMC’s international work in the creative industries. Along the way we talk about caps, fairness, and why policy settings have hit the private sector so much harder than universities.

You will hear us dig into:

• How The Scholar Ship created a “university at sea” focused on intercultural leadership, and why the GFC and oil prices brought it undone

• What it felt like to watch that ship sail into Sydney Harbour and realise you had helped build something genuinely world class

• The leap from federal government land surveyor to running Wollongong’s Japan office, and then setting up ANU’s regional office in Bangkok

• The strange joy and terror of consulting life, from currency swings that wipe out your margin overnight to clients who keep pulling you back

• Why Peter fell in love with Japan, Sweden and Vietnam, and what those countries taught him about creative talent and mobility

  
  

From there we shift into the creative industries and the future. Peter reflects on 15 years at JMC, why he is bullish on performance and the arts in an age of AI and virtual production, and how Swedish arts high schools and emerging Vietnamese creatives are reshaping the pipeline of global talent. Music is still music, he argues, and performance is still performance, even if the tools keep changing.

We also get very real about the past few years in Australia:

• How the student caps and immigration debates have disproportionately damaged the private sector

• The quiet injustice of private provider students being shut out of the New Colombo Plan and OS-HELP

• Why Peter thinks Australia’s historic strength in relationship building is being undermined by bureaucracy and short term politics

• The danger of becoming a “fairweather friend” to partners who remember who stuck with them when times were hard

One of my favourite parts of the conversation is Peter’s story of COVID at JMC. While others were cutting, he bet that, like previous crises, the downturn would last about two years. JMC kept its international team intact, especially in-country staff in Indonesia and Malaysia, moved people onto projects where needed, and doubled down on relationships. The result was their best ever international intake in February 2022, up 35 per cent on 2019.

We finish with advice for students and early career professionals. It is simple and hard to argue with: go somewhere. It does not have to be Australia, or any particular country. Just go. Peter went to Japan with a backpack and a bit of Japanese, and everything that followed, from Bangkok to Latin America to the creative industries, unfolded from that single decision to leave home.

Global Horizons is a production of The Global Society, Australia’s Learning Abroad support company. Our editor is Len Zamora and our distribution specialist is Angelo Ablao. Rob Malicki is the executive editor and host. The podcast wouldn’t be possible without The Koala News, Australia’s international education news website. This episode is supported by Choosing Your Uni, Australia's unique, AI-powered platform that helps domestic and international students to find the right institution for them, and that helps Australian institutions to access new markets. For guest suggestions and feedback, email podcast@globalsociety.com.au