Policy, business and ICT: a study of the growth and decline of private vocational training providers in the education/migration industry in Australia

摘要

This thesis investigates the relationship between government policy, business strategy and ICT. It does so through an analysis of the roles these factors played in the growth and decline of private providers of vocational training in the education/migration industry in Australia from the late 1990s to 2010. The thesis looks at the reasons for the sudden increase in the number of international students in Australia undertaking vocational training as part of a pathway to permanent residence, and also at the reasons for the closure of this pathway. The thesis finds that understanding the relationship between policy, business strategy and ICT as a foundational trilateral relationship rather than as a series of bilateral relationships can provide for a more comprehensive account of the growth and decline of the private providers in the education/migration industry. The findings enhance our understanding of the co-dependence of the factors of government policy, business strategy, and ICT in emerging industries.