International student numbers collapse by 38pc

The number of international students starting courses fell by 38 per cent this year.

Brett Blacker, CEO of English language teaching industry body, English Australia.

The number of international students starting courses this year has plunged by nearly 40 per cent as industry leaders fear for the future of the education export business, once worth over $40bn a year to the Australian economy,

New federal government data shows that 79,000 students commenced courses in January and February this year, 38 per cent less than the 127,000 who started courses in the same period in 2020.

International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood said little was being done to address the crisis and not even any small pilot programs for the return of students had been given the go ahead this year.

“With no pilot program yet to see the light of day, it’s not surprising that interest in Australia continues to wane and numbers drop off,” he said. “Clearly Australia needs a circuit breaker which can only come from a significant government policy shift.”

The government figures also show that the number of commencing university students fell by 36 per cent this year.

The worst hit area is English language colleges, which in normal times feed international students into universities. The English language sector’s intake of new students in the first two months of this year was 69 per cent less than last year.

 

English Australia chief executive Brett Blacker said many English colleges had closed and more were expected to fail now that JobKeeper support had ended. He said that with jobs under threat, his industry sector could not afford to lose the skills that will be needed to grow again when COVID is over. “There’s a long-term impact if that talent exits from the system,” Mr Blacker said.

The vocational education sector lost only 9 per cent of commencing students compared to last year, however it has been picking up students already in Australia who are switching into vocational education and training (VET).

“Those students who remain onshore are desperate to keep their student visas and are dropping into inexpensive VET courses as a means of meeting their visa requirements,” Mr Honeywood said.

He said that federal government’s decision to ban flights from India in response to the country’s desperate COVID crisis, was making it more difficult to persuade students to choose to study with Australian education institutions.