Chinese students numbers in Australian universities continue to grow — slowly

So far, university ties with China are holding up

So far so good for the Group of Eight. As yet there is no drop-off in numbers of high-fee-paying Chinese students — and thus no fall in the revenue that supports research programs — at Australia’s elite group of universities.

The latest enrolment figures show that in the first nine months of this year the influx of Chinese students commencing courses was 9 per cent higher for the Group of Eight universities than in the corresponding period last year.

The news is not as good for the universities not in the Group of Eight that have seen numbers of newly arriving Chinese students decline this year.

But, overall, the number of commencing Chinese students is up 3.2 per cent this year. That does mean the market is very soft — particularly compared with the 17 per cent annual growth seen only two years ago — but it is not yet in disaster territory.

■ ALSO READ: International student exodus would kill university quality

The fact Chinese student growth is holding up is very good news for the big five in the Group of Eight — the universities of Sydney, NSW, Queensland and Melbourne, plus Monash.

They are the ones that would be picking up most of the Chinese growth because the Australian National University is not seeking to increase its international student numbers, and the universities of Adelaide and Western Australia have never been strong destinations for the Chinese.

This means, for the moment, the Chinese revenue stream that supports research at the big five is still flowing.

This news comes on top of another positive development for the Group of Eight that became clear when the federal government released the report of the University Foreign Interference Taskforce last week.

Universities have been spared the imposition of draconian rules restricting research collaboration which, if they had eventuated, could have wreaked havoc on the highly valuable ties they have with Chinese researchers that are unrelated to defence and security.

Instead, the report provided a long list of precautionary steps that universities should take to safeguard their interests, and Australian interests, when collaborating with individuals and institutions in other countries.

In other words, the ties with China that yield student fee revenue critical to supporting research, as well as joint research programs with high-quality Chinese university partners, remain intact — so far.

The alternative, for universities and the government, doesn’t bear thinking about. It would be a higher education sector in which the richer Group of Eight universities — starved of Chinese cash — would aggressively bid for the South Asian students who support other universities.

The system soon would be in fin­ancial crisis, with weaker universities crying out for government support. Luckily it hasn’t happened. Yet.