Dependence on sophisticated, interdependent technologies is usually unsustainable. One ex-AusAID student returned to Papua New Guinea enthusiastic about implementing a computer education into local schools without electricity and unable to afford calculators. The students' need skills in technologies that can sustained in their home countries. Supervisors need awareness of the conditions under which their trainees will work. Traditional education was based on obligation to the clan.
Ongoing negotiation is required to ensure that the students' skills remain acceptable at home.
However, from my experience they appear to be quite common among many AusAID students. The notions that AusAID students' experiences in Australia need to be structured according to their prior experience and their future needs if they are to be of lasting value is not surprising. Even less consideration is given to the other end of their candidature. The needs of students from non-Western type cultures are not amenable to 'quick fixes'. At a time when Australian universities are competing to market education as a consumer product it is perhaps appropriate for aid donors to demand on-going specialist support as a standard item rather than an optional extra.