New visa changes could see Gold Coast stripped off ‘billions’ if international students choose to study elsewhere

A ‘bewildering’ change looming for the Gold Coast’s educational sector could see the city lose out on billions — and fewer international students.

THE Gold Coast’s status as a top destination for international students is under threat, with the city set to miss out on “billions of dollars” if the Federal Government pushes through new visa laws.

Under proposed legislation sitting before Parliament, the Gold Coast will not be classified as a regional city and so not eligible for any of the 23,000 skilled regional visas targeting international students.

Griffith University’s Professor Carolyn Evans, speaking at a City Leaders Forum yesterday organised by Young Professionals Gold Coast, told the audience the proposed regional classification excluding the Gold Coast was “a factor for the whole Gold Coast at the moment”.

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Professor Carolyn Evans.

“There has been a change proposed in the federal Senate that will change the definition of what is regional and that sounds really boring,” she said.

“But it’s really important because it means international students who study in a regional area will have an extra year of work on their visas, so that will make those areas attractive.

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“The only areas not regional in Australia are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is the only non-capital city to be excluded from all of these potential attractions for international students. This is over a billion dollars of the economy in this area.

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Alfred Slogrove in Southport. Pic Tim Marsden

“Adelaide, with twice the population of the Gold Coast, is regional, Hobart is regional. It’s in the Senate in the next week or two so if you think international students and the billion dollars they’re worth might be important to your business, perhaps you might want to let people know you are displeased about that.”

In an effort to overturn this, a business case has been prepared by Study Gold Coast, supported by the city’s three universities, Mayor Tom Tate and local politicians.

It has been submitted to Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs David Coleman for consideration.

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Griffith University’s Gold Coast Campus. Photo by Richard Gosling

Study Gold Coast CEO Alfred Slogrove said international students were important to the city because they helped bolster course numbers, meaning a wider variety of subjects was available to all students.

He said the decision “will considerably disadvantage a city that has invested heavily to attract the best student talent as a critical element of its strategy to diversify its economy”, and would “negatively impact the Gold Coast’s education sector”.

Cr Tate, speaking at the City Leaders Forum, told the audience at Star Gold Coast: “Really, Adelaide is regional and we are not? That is really just stacking the odds against the Gold Coast.

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“It’s one of the those things that gets your goat going, being Gold Coaster and being undermined by the Canberra bureaucrats.

“Our city is exempt. We’ll leave Gold Coast hanging with Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. I’ll be letting our local federal members know and writing to the responsible minister.”

Study Gold Coast chairman and former Queensland premier Rob Borbidge expressed his concerns over the policy’s classification of the Gold Coast as non-regional.

“Working collaboratively as a sector, we have pulled together a strong business case that is now being considered by Canberra,” Mr Borbidge said.

The peak education body was also seeking a concession to the regional status for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) for three years to be reviewed annually.

Currently, the Gold Coast is ranked the 84th best city to study abroad in the world, compared to Melbourne which is third and Sydney which is ninth.