Universities guzzle international students billions while slashing academics

For the second consecutive year, auditor generals in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland warned that universities have become dangerously reliant on income from international students. From The AFR:

The strongest words were in NSW, where the state Auditor-General said two universities sourced over 73 per cent of their overseas revenue from one country, China, and their reliance on it was increasing…

…Queensland’s Auditor-General said revenue from overseas students went up by 18 per cent in 2018 and for the first time the University of Queensland got more of its revenue from international students than domestic…

Higher education fellow at the Grattan Institute, Ittima Cherastidtham, said… eventually universities would face questions over the amount of their income from foreign students that did not end up going towards teaching them.

The last point about how the international student bounty is spent is an important one. Student enrolment data from the Department of Education and Training shows that student numbers have ballooned since 2000, with international students experiencing by far the fastest growth:

At the same time, full-time staff data from the Department of Education and Training shows a particularly large increase in non-academic staff:

The below table summarises the changes by comparing full-time staff and student numbers at Australia’s universities in 2017 versus 2000:

As you can see, between 2000 and 2017, overall university student numbers rose by 118%, with international student numbers ballooning by 351% and domestic student numbers rising 80%.

Over the same period, full-time non-academic staff numbers at Australia’s universities grew by 49%, whereas academic staff increased by only 43%.

Put another way, in 2000 full-time non-academic staff outnumbered academic staff by nearly 7,000, whereas in 2017 the difference increased to just under 12,000. That is, universities have padded themselves with bureaucracy.

The number of students per academic staff member has also skyrocketed, from 1 staff member per 25 students in 2000 to 1 staff member per 39 students in 2017.

Sure, there have been productivity gains owing to internet delivery but not that much!

Whichever way you cut it, teaching staff numbers have not kept pace with student numbers, especially owing to the rapid growth in international students, many of whom are from non-English speaking backgrounds and are higher maintenance than domestic students. That’s a double whammy for local students seeking a high quality education.

Perhaps the federal government should dictate a maximum teaching staff-to-student ratio of, say 1/25 (as existed in 2000). This would ensure that the rivers of gold from the international student boom is not wasted on university bureaucracy, such as the position advertised below, and would help to protect both education standards and quality.