Qld universities more reliant on Chinese students than ever

Experts say more needs to be done to diversify Queensland’s foreign student intake after the latest figures.

Queensland universities have become more reliant on Chinese international students than even before the pandemic, despite the rocky relationship with the authoritarian power and recent trade sanctions increasing the risk to the lucrative market.

Analysis of education department data reveals more than one in four foreign students studying with Queensland institutions are from China, having increased from just over one in five before Covid-19.

International education industry representatives admit that work has to be done to diversify the overseas student intake, but say the risk of China banning its students from studying in Australia is low.

The flag pole of the Australian Parliament is seen behind the roofs of the Chinese Embassy in Canberra. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

While the total number of Chinese international students in the state has dropped, their percentage of the total cohort has increased as students from other nations fled during the pandemic and have been slow to return.

Of the 63,325 international students in Queensland as of April 2022, 16,248 or 26 per cent of them were from China, according to federal Education Department data.

The data includes universities, vocational education and English language courses.

It is compared Chinese students studying in the state from the 23,971 in December 2020, which represented 24 per cent of the total international student cohort.

In the three previous years, the total number of students from China varied from 21,000 to 26,000 but made up about 22 per cent of the overall international cohort consistently.

International Education Association of Australia boss Phil Honeywood, who is also on the board of Study Queensland, said there had been an increase in students from India and Nepal this year which was helping to mitigate the reliance on China.

“There is always work to be done on diversification. Queensland has had a stronger diversification than some other states,” Mr Honeywood said.

He said he had recently spoken with representatives of China's embassy in Australia.

“The main message they wanted to emphasise was they want Chinese students back into Australia to study,” he said.

International Education Association of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

He said the state had a large number of students from Korea, Japan and Latin America coming to study English language diplomas, but faced a challenge in encouraging them to stay on to study at the state’s universities as well.

Despite a recent drop in the total number of students from China studying in Australia, federal Education Minister Jason Clare said he was not getting any indication that the Chinese Government would seek to deter its students from studying here.

“That’s partly because you’re seeing the same thing happening in the US, as well as in the UK,” he said.

“We’ve got to build it back. We’ve got to rebuild it and I want to work with the universities to help make that happen.”