The biggest winners from the monstrous boom in international students has undoubtedly been Australia’s universities.
Over the six years to 2019, universities (‘higher education’) enjoyed a 92% increase in international student enrolments to a whopping 442,000:
Over the same six year period, fees received by universities for international students soared by 143% to $12 billion at the end of 2019:
With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the world, Australian universities are being told that they must slash fees to international students in order to remain competitive:
Former University of Canberra vice-chancellor Stephen Parker said universities had been “caught out like luxury brands have been caught out”, with prices reflecting prestige names rather than the “intrinsic superiority of the product”…
“This is going to be a much more discerning world,” said Professor Parker, now national education sector leader with consultants KPMG Australia. “Chinese parents are not going to send their only child overseas to universities which deliver less than excellence. Excellence is not sitting in the same classroom as your countrymen, struggling with the language and getting a commodity product. The world is going to focus on value for money rather than indulgence for the sake of a brand.”
The pandemic has stifled China’s appetite for Australian higher education, with 29 per cent fewer visa applications lodged in February than 12 months earlier. But statistics suggest demand was already subdued…
Some universities’ international divisions have tightened their integrity measures, with no universities now rated as high immigration risks by the home affairs department. This may be limiting recruitment from Australia’s second top market of India, exacerbating the impacts of the UK’s reintroduction of two-year post-study work visas.
Having climbed steadily for almost a decade and snowballed by 50 per cent last financial year, higher education visa applications from India have fallen 21 per cent since September.
Lowering fees to keep international students numbers at current ludicrous levels is a stupid idea and will only result in universities, which have already cratered entry and teaching standards, reaching further down the quality pool.
Australia would be far better served if universities kept fees high and lifted entry standards (including English-language standards), thus aiming for a lower number of high quality and high margin students.
In any event, Australia will become more “competitive” in the international student with a lower Australian dollar.
