This was published 8 months ago
Universities eye offshore fix for foreign student surge
Universities are being urged to set up campuses in other countries and offer more courses online as the federal government attempts to quell the post-pandemic surge of international students in Australia to ease migration pressures.
The Commonwealth’s long-term international education strategy is being revised to boost the focus on overseas offerings, with ministers calling on Australian institutions to establish a greater presence in South-East Asia and the Pacific, as the government’s migration overhaul aims to reduce the volume of foreign students arriving in the country.
Students at RMIT’s Ho Chi Minh campus in Vietnam. The government wants to see more overseas expansion of Australian higher education.
International Education Association of Australia head Phil Honeywood, who is also co-convenor of the Council for International Education on which Labor ministers sit, said providers could partner-up with institutions in other countries and split their courses, so students could study offshore.
“Clearly the government is concerned about the large increase in students from a handful of countries wanting to study in Australia and ... is now looking at options for Australian education to still be a significant player, but by means of offshore delivery, whether it be offshore campuses or more focus on online delivery,” Honeywood said.
A spokesperson for Education Minister Jason Clare said international education was not a “one-way street”.
“It is not just about international students coming to Australia, it is increasingly about Australian universities going to the world,” the spokesperson said.
The Albanese government is targeting international student numbers as it aims to reduce net overseas migration by half after the figure swelled to a record of 518,000 last financial year – partly due to a post-COVID boom in the number of foreign students.
“We expect to see that [foreign student] sector continue to grow, but we don’t want it to grow as fast as it has been growing in the past few years,” Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said during a December 11 press conference, where she also warned against a “free-for-all”.
There are currently about 650,000 international students in the country, she said.
A clampdown on work rights, stricter savings requirements, tougher English-language testing and a new genuine student test are all aimed at improving standards, as the government simultaneously tightens up the integrity of the vocational sector.
In November, Education Minister Jason Clare and Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor travelled to India with a delegation of university vice chancellors. Deakin and Wollongong universities opened up campuses in Gujarat International Finance-Tec city last month.
RMIT has been operating in Vietnam for 20 years, James Cook University has a campus in Singapore, Monash University has campuses in Indonesia and Malaysia, and Western Sydney University is setting up shop in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Asked during an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne earlier this month whether Australia would cap the number of foreign students – a measure universities oppose – Clare said the sector had to become more sustainable through universities exporting their services overseas.
“That makes money for us as a country like any other export industry without the pressures that it puts on our economy and our population by having students here in large numbers,” he said.
A Universities Australia-commissioned report by educational consultancy The Lygon Group urged the sector to move into South-East Asia and the Pacific.
Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts said delivering education to foreign students in their own countries was a “big opportunity to expand the reach of our sector”.
“Australian universities that have opened in Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia have been good for students in our region and good for Australia,” he said.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.