South Australia’s international student sector thriving — new accommodation tower planned for Twin St
SOUTH Australia’s international student sector is thriving, with record enrolments pumping more than $1.5 billion into the local economy — a proposed 36-storey student accommodation tower in the CBD the latest bid to cash in on the boom.
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A 36-STOREY student accommodation building — the tallest of its kind in Adelaide — would tower over Rundle Mall under the latest bid to capitalise on a booming international student market.
The State Commission Assessment Panel is discussing plans for the 510-bed development at 29 Twin St, behind Adelaide Arcade.
The vacant site’s owner, Hines Property, did not respond to The City’s inquiries about the proposed skyscraper — which would be two storeys taller than a student accommodation tower planned for the corner of Frome St and North Tce.
But the head of StudyAdelaide, the State Government agency charged with marketing Adelaide to international students, said the proposal was a “great signal” for the foreign student sector, which was now second only to wine as South Australia’s largest export market.
The Twin St tower would add to more than 2800 student beds available, or are set to be provided, as part of a number of student accommodation developments in the CBD.
Urbanest, a 20-storey, 699-bed tower on North Tce, opened in July, five months after the first tenants moved into Atira Student Living’s 17-storey complex on Waymouth St.
Global Student Accommodation has approval for 680 beds over 34 levels at the site of North Tce’s First Church of Christ Scientist building, less than 100m from Kyren Group’s 268-bed complex at Synagogue Pl.
StudyAdelaide chief executive Karyn Kent said the rate and scale of new student accommodation developments was a reflection of the “growing confidence” in Adelaide as study destination.
The number of international students in South Australia — including high school, university and TAFE students — rose last year to a record 35,820, up from 34,070 in 2016.
The sector pumped $1.54 billion into the local economy in 2017, an almost 10 per cent jump from the 12 months prior.
WHERE ARE ADELAIDE’S NEW STUDENT ACCOMMODATIONS?
Ms Kent said almost a quarter of the CBD’s population was students, the vast majority of those foreign.
“The beauty of this sector is that has so many flow-on effects for so many others,” Ms Kent told The City.
“Not only is it fantastic to have a multicultural environment, it enriches our multicultural understanding and creates links with other global markets.”
Ms Kent expected global demand for a South Australian education would continue to grow.
“If you look at the overall trends, there is no slowing of demand for an international education globally and there is an opportunity for us to capitalise on that,” she said.
“Our annual growth rate has been 5 to 6 per cent and we have to strive to maintain and grow that.”
Despite the sector’s record-setting growth, South Australia’s education providers have struggled to compete with interstate institutions, accounting for just 6 per cent of the Australia’s international student intake.
Premier Steven Marshall has called for an increase the state’s share of international students as part of a wider, targeted migration program.
Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister David Ridgway this week said the State Government had committed to a range of new measures to help grow the sector.
“These include increasing investment in StudyAdelaide to support their promotion of Adelaide as a centre of education excellence, as well as establishing a new Ministerial Advisory Committee for International Education to provide strategic advice on growing the industry,” Mr Ridgway said.
Adelaide University vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen supported government schemes that allowed more foreigners to study and live in South Australia.
“There used to be a very interesting scheme here that attracted international students and migrants based on visa opportunities and that seems to me like a very good kind of thing,” Prof Rathjen said.
“My experience with international students is that a remarkable proportion of them would like to stay in Australia … and they make an enormous contribution when they stay.”
Adelaide University has a record 7720 international students enrolled this year, up from 7276 in 2017.
Foreigners make up more than a third of total enrolments at Adelaide University, while one in six students at UniSA are from other countries.
Prof Rathjen said it was “likely” the university would set more ambitious targets for international student numbers as part of a new strategic plan, noting the world’s largest universities had 50/50 split of local and foreign students.
Study and stay in Adelaide
He is 22 years old and already undertaking a PhD, but Amnol Saini has an even bigger task than study on his hands.
As president of South Australia’s Indian Students’ Society, Mr Saini is busy proving to students from his homeland that Adelaide — not Melbourne or Sydney — is the place to be.
The society, which has about 600 members, helps Indian students make the transition to Australian life.
It hosts social events for students, provides networking opportunities and generates workplace experience.
There are more than 3900 Indian high school and university students in South Australia, according to StudyAdelaide.
Mr Saini told The City that too many Indian students were “left in the dark” when they arrived in Adelaide, forcing them to move to Melbourne or Sydney after they completed their degrees.
“What happens is that they arrive in Adelaide and they do not realise that you have to network from day one if you want to get a job,” Mr Saini said this week.
“When they don’t (find a job) they look for opportunities in Melbourne or Sydney.
“It is a pity because we as a state train them and they move interstate. We want to keep that workforce here for the betterment of SA itself.”
Mr Saini, who studied in Ballarat after he arrived in Australia in 2011 and is now undertaking a PhD in reproductive health at Adelaide University, said the society hoped to show students the benefits of “getting out of their comfort zone” during their time in the city.
“We tell them ‘don’t be shy, make friends in class, go out and experience Adelaide — go to Victor Harbor’,” he said. “Students that do, they love it — the culture, the great ambience, the fact that everything is close by.”