Qld universities warned on over-reliance as Chinese students flock back

With a record number of Chinese students lodging visas to study in Queensland, universities have been warned not to repeat past mistakes.

• Editor’s view: Not students’ fault

A record number of Chinese students are lodging visas to study in Queensland, signalling a return of the lucrative market, but it has sparked a warning universities could again be caught out with an “over-reliance” on foreign revenue.

Academic Salvatore Babones, who previously released a paper estimating 15 per cent of University of Queensland’s revenue in 2017 came from Chinese international students, said universities had failed to learn lessons from the pandemic when international borders slammed shut.

Associate professor Salvatore Babones. Picture Ryan Osland/The Australian

He said China could “turn off the tap” for political or economic reasons, leaving universities exposed.

But UQ and other international education sector sources say they have been diversifying their intake across key markets, including India, Thailand, Vietnam and others.

Home Affairs Department data shows there were more than 2600 student visas lodged by prospective Chinese international students in the first two months of the year, more than even pre-pandemic levels.

The Chinese government in January mandated a snap return to face-to-face study for students, which helped drive the increase in visa applications.

About 38 per cent of UQ’s student body are international students.

Sydney University’s Associate Professor Babones said before the pandemic there was an “unsustainably risky, over-reliance” on fee-paying Chinese international students from many universities, but that they had failed to learn lessons from the border closures.

“All the risks are still there. My main concern is about the Chinese Government turning off the tap,” he said.

“Anecdotally, Chinese students have indicated to me it’s increasingly difficult to get a licence for foreign exchange.”

A UQ spokeswoman said the university was focusing on diversifying its international student community, which had seen student enrolments from India up 72 per cent compared to 2019.

She said the number of Chinese students starting study this semester was down 8 per cent compared to 2019, but the total number enrolled was up 10 per cent.

“This is driven by the continued enrolment of students who applied to UQ prior to the start of the pandemic,” she said.

University of Queensland, St Lucia campus. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

A QUT spokeswoman said Chinese student numbers were lower than previous years, as China’s border did not open in time for semester one.

“QUT is seeing increasing interest in inquiries and applications from China which bodes well for the return of an important cohort of students to Australian providers and these levels of interest are matched and, in some cases, exceeded by other source countries around the world,” she said.

International Education Association of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood said diversification had been taking place, with unprecedented numbers of students from Thailand and Vietnam coming to study in Australia.

“There’s been a focus post-Covid to diversify student source countries and also the type of courses we’re promoting,” Mr Honeywood said.