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 from Barnard’s reporting on purpose-built student accommodation demand.

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

If you’re trying to make sense of the headlines, or you’re working inside the sector and want the deeper context behind the noise, this one is for you.

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