Higher education: Uni chiefs plead for return of students

Melbourne’s university chiefs say Australia faces the risk of being abandoned completely by foreign students.

Monash University vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner says foreign students will consider ditching Australia if their return to campus is further delayed. Picture: David Geraghty

Melbourne’s top university chiefs are pushing for foreign students to return to Victoria as soon as possible or risk having them abandon Australia completely, with the coronavirus outbreak threatening the state’s $12.5bn education market.

Margaret Gardner, the vice-chancellor of Monash University, said foreign students would consider ditching study plans in Australia if their return to campus was further delayed by the ­pandemic.

Duncan Maskell, the vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne, told The Australian the reinstatement of lockdown measures in Melbourne had also derailed plans to bring back overseas students to the country.

The higher education sector is waiting to see whether advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade cautioning Australians against overseas travel to China will stop universities from pursuing staff and student exchanges once international borders are opened.

Pilot programs to bring in small batches of foreign students in NSW, Victoria, the ACT and South Australia were to start as soon as the end of July, but all have been scrapped or delayed in part because of the coronavirus outbreak in Victoria.

Professor Gardner said foreign students signed up or looking to study here next year were now looking to Canada, Britain and the rest of Europe. “Many students continue to study with us online from their overseas location, but with the expectation that they will be able to return to on-campus education,” she said.

“These students show incredible loyalty and trust and we should reciprocate with flexibility to support this cohort.

“If international students are not able to return to campus in Australia, we risk them turning to the many other places in the world that would welcome them on to their campuses and to damage the reputation of Australia as a welcoming, open destination for people to study, work and live.”

International education is Victoria’s top export and more than 27,000 of its students are on the other side of Australia’s closed international border.

Professor Maskell said his university’s plans to bring students back were well-advanced. “The University of Melbourne, along with other Victorian universities, has been working closely with the Australian and Victorian governments on a plan to bring students currently overseas safely back to Australia,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the reinstatement of Stage 3 restrictions across metropolitan Melbourne means we are unlikely to be able to progress with these plans (but) we will be ready to respond quickly when government policy changes.”

Britain is bolstering its campaign to attract foreign students, particularly from Asia, as Australia’s borders remain closed.

The Australian revealed this week a program to bring 7000 continuing undergraduate, postgraduate and honours students in Melbourne had been scrapped because of the latest outbreak.

A plan to bring 25,000 students to Sydney and smaller programs in Adelaide and Sydney are also now in doubt.

The Morrison government is considering a plan to grant graduate work rights to thousands of foreign students studying online and currently unable to return to Australia.

Professor Gardner, whose university is one of two Group of Eight institutions in Melbourne, said health and safety would be paramount, and she would continue to search for solutions to bring foreign students back. She also backed giving online students post-study work visas.

“Since the beginning of the COVID-19 global health crisis, Monash University has been in discussions with peak bodies and state and federal governments about exploring ways to enable international students to return/commence their studies in Australia on campus,” she said.

“Allowing these (online) students access to post-study visas will add to the development of Australia’s economy and culturally diverse community — these talents enrich our workforce and help address the skills shortage.”

DFAT’s warning that Australians could face arbitrary detention in China will affect the universities’ relationship, given China is their fourth biggest research partner.