A new survey shows that, contrary to popular perceptions, international students have been treated well by Australia and it remains the preferred study destination of Indian students:
International students now believe that Australia has done more than other major education destinations to help them during the Covid-19 crisis, a survey suggests.
Respondents to a questionnaire of more than 600 prospective students from India and Nepal ranked Australia ahead of New Zealand and Canada in terms of the steps taken by countries to assist foreign students.
The UK placed fourth, with the US a distant fifth, according to the study by the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI)…
[The] newly released figures suggest that Australia’s efforts to help international students have been underrated. The high commissioner to India, former New South Wales premier Barry O’Farrell, said that A$1.3 billion (£720 million) had been “pledged” by governments, education providers and the broader community.
“This includes welfare services, financial assistance, food supply, mental health services and emergency relief initiatives,” he told a virtual AAERI convention…
Meanwhile, developments at the University of Adelaide offer another sign that the Covid-induced crash of Australia’s education has not been as severe as feared.
Interim vice-chancellor Mike Brooks told staff that better than expected international enrolments in semester two had eased anticipated losses by about A$40 million, allowing the university to defer a 3.5 per cent salary cut and shelve the planned cancellation of annual leave loadings.
Professor Brooks said that the increase in overseas enrolments had been influenced by the government’s decision to recognise online study in applications for post-study work visas.
The claim that international student numbers have collapsed is debunked by the latest student visa data from the Department of Home Affairs, which shows that overall visa numbers increased by 0.4% in the year to June 2020, driven by a massive 14.3% rise in students from India:
As noted previously, there have been major concerns with the quality of students arriving from the Indian subcontinent, who often come to Australia for the primary purposes of residency and working, not education.
Thus, Australia’s education industry has reached deep down the quality barrel in order to keep the student-migration ponzi going.
RIP university entry and pedagogical standards.
