Preface

This year has seen the Association grow from strength to strength as we tackle unforeseen challenges, pivot the way we work and become an even more influential voice for our sector.

We again have structured the annual report around the three key pillars of the Association’s strategic plan:

Policy, advocacy and representation

Now more than ever IEAA’s advocacy role in shaping sector policy is essential. As we face unprecedented challenges, we continue to be a united voice for our sector to advocate for international students, our members and those associated with the international education sector, and to engage government and the wider community to create shared understanding of the richness our sector brings to our nation. We continue to be represented on numerous federal and state-level advisory committees and profiled across various media outlets and platforms.

Professional learning

IEAA launched its flagship Fellowship Program in September 2019. The professional learning framework builds on IEAA’s established position as a leading professional development provider and recognises and rewards members for their education, experience and engagement in international education. We congratulate the 11 Senior Fellows, 12 Fellows and 23 Associate Fellows who have joined the program since its launch, and acknowledge the 260 fellowship applications in progress. We also held 44 IEAA events during the year, including our first online Network Forum and hosted over 3300 attendees.

Research

IEAA’s research output continues to go from strength-to-strength, ably guided by our research agenda. We are increasingly conducting and commissioning more of our own, independent research. We have particularly expanded our output in employability research which now includes:

Employable you: an online guide for international students

Research Paper: Global perspectives on international student employability Research Paper: Economic opportunities and outcomes of post-study work rights A Research Digest - International graduates: Navigating the home and host labour markets

An extensive research project into the career outcomes of learning abroad Commissioning an update to the Employability Guide for International Students for Institutions (due to be released in late 2020)

We have also produced a Research Digest on Mental health and international students: issues, challenges and effective practice and continue to work on smaller state and federal government grant projects. Considering all of this investment, we are pleased to remain in a sound financial position with over $870,000 of members’ equity (see pages 50–65). We are confident that we can continue to invest in the association to deliver on the final phase of our strategic plan and enhance our offering to all our members whilst still ensuring we remain cautious in a climate of uncertainty.

Finally, since this will be my final AGM as President, I want to thank our CEO and the Secretariat who have worked tirelessly under extraordinarily difficult circumstances to keep the association actively advancing the interests and agendas to the benefit of our members. I present to you our annual report for the period 1 July 2019–30 June 2020.

Melissa Banks IEAA President