International hospitality students hard-hit by coronavirus with fewer jobs to help support studies
INTERNATIONAL hospitality students face some of the toughest ramifications of coronavirus, with the jobs of many at risk, leaving them scrambling for money to support their education.
Northern Territory
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INTERNATIONAL hospitality students face some of the toughest ramifications of coronavirus, with the jobs of many at risk, leaving them scrambling for money to support their education.
International College of Advanced Education chief executive Sean Mahoney said there had been no changes yet to their hospitality courses’ education component but the loss of jobs would hit hard.
“There are a large number of international students in the NT currently and the latest figures that I have would be around 3000 to 3500 international students so it’s a significant component of the broader community that needs some sort of support – we’re turning our attention to look at ways that those people can be supported,” he said.
“Some of them have lost jobs immediately, many others have had significant drops to hours given they are casual staff – that’s had a big impact to them.”
Mr Mahoney said regardless, students’ interest in the Australian lifestyle remained, meaning international students would do what they could to find education and a job here.
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“International students across the board are always keen to get part-time work to support their lifestyle and studies here in Australia,” he said.
“Hospitality in particular is a very popular one and we teach that so it’s pretty important to our program.”
Despite job losses to students, Mr Mahoney said the broader community would also be hit hard.
“We have a work placement program as part of our studies, that’s of direct importance to us, the students and I think everyone else is genuinely concerned about the broader impact in the community,” he said.
However, he said participation rates continued to grow which would bode well for the industry if businesses opened up again post-pandemic.
“Even with coronavirus we’re still getting marketing, still getting demand, the real reason students come to Australia is people are interested in the lifestyle,” Mr Mahoney said. “They’ll be almost exclusively in Darwin.”
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International students are free to return home if they need to, however very few are likely to come to the NT in the next six months.
Originally published as International hospitality students hard-hit by coronavirus with fewer jobs to help support studies