NSW to reopen for international students

As reported by Sky News this morning (above), the New South Wales Government has unveiled a plan to save universities that are struggling without the annual influx of international students.

The plan would allow international students, who contribute $13.9 billion to the state’s economy, to travel to New South Wales where they would be required to enter a mandatory 14-day quarantine period in hotels before returning to the classroom.

So, while Australians are blocked from travelling around Australia and abroad, in order to suppress COVID-19, we will let in tens-of-thousands of international students from nations with higher infection rates.

The New South Wales Government’s capitulation is not surprising given the state is most exposed to international students, especially those from China.

As shown in the next chart, New South Wales (367,000) had the highest number of international student enrolments in 2019, followed by Victoria’s (310,000):

New South Wales (101,000) also had the highest number of Chinese student enrolments in 2019:

Data from Professor Salvator Babones also shows that Sydney’s universities are the most exposed to a collapse in Chinese international student enrolments:

The University of Sydney and UNSW lead the country in numbers of Chinese students, with roughly 17,000 and 16,000, respectively. Both universities depend on Chinese student tuition for as much as one-quarter of their total revenues from all sources…

Money talks.