International student enrolment tide turns away from China

Chinese students are failing to return to study in Australia at the same rate as the rest of the world, as the Education Minister warns of a “slow” recovery for the international student market.

Overseas students Vaastav Varma, Tamara Bruers and Aashna Kotwani at Sydney University. Picture: Nikki Short

Chinese students are failing to return to study in Australia at the same rate as the rest of the world, as the Education Minister warns the recovery of the international student market will be “slow”.

New figures from the Department of Education seen by The Australian show 478,230 students were enrolled between January and June 2021, 28 per cent of whom were from China and 16 per cent from India.

But, while China was still Australia’s biggest source country, commencements were down 21 per cent compared to 2021, from more than 45,000 to about 35,000 in 2022.

In comparison, Indian commencements increased by 21 per cent from about 27,400 to 33,300 and Nepal recorded an increase of more than 70 per cent, up from 12,500 to 21,500.

It comes after Beijing released a warning to its students during the pandemic, cautioning them against studying in Australia because of “racism”.

In response to this, and previously raised concerns about universities’ reliance on the Chinese market, the sector has sought to diversify its sources of students.

Education Minister Jason Clare last week hosted Indian counterpart Dharmendra Pradhan and discussed closer ties in research and how Australia could help India reach its goal of seeing 500 million of its people enrolled to study by 2035.

“I think I can confidently speak for Australian universities … that we’re keen to work with (India) to help implement that bold agenda,” he said at the time.

The number of Indian students granted a visa almost doubled between June and July, from just over 3000 to close to 6000, as visa backlogs were worked through by the Home Affairs ­Department following a boost to staff under Labor.

Vaastav Varma, from Mumbai, said he enrolled at Sydney University mainly because the kind of engineering course he wanted to do wasn’t offered in India. “But I also came because no one really cares where you’re from. There’s no judgment or prejudice and you’re always welcome,” the 21-year-old told The Australian.

Vaastav Varma. Picture: Nikki Short

“In the last couple of years Australia has become an even more popular destination for prospective students from India because it gives you the quality of education and the lifestyle too. That doesn’t happen at home.”

Sydney University students Tamara Bruers and Aashna Kotwani, who relocated from Hong Kong in 2021 to start their undergraduate degrees, said the standard of education and quality of life continue to make Australia an attractive destination for international students.

“Both of us already wanted to go to an Australian university when we were teenagers. It’s a common option for students at international schools and we came to Australia together after we did a trip to some universities in Victoria and NSW,” Ms Kotwani said. “In Hong Kong it (Australian universities) seems like it’s growing in popularity.”

“The political climate in Hong Kong makes a lot of people want to get out, so Australia will always be a popular destination for education because it offers great courses and a fun lifestyle, which I think most people think is better than the US and UK,” Ms Bruers said

Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson said it was “hardly surprising that enrolments from Chinese students have been impacted given the issues those students are facing regarding travel”, and stressed the data referred to not only to higher education, but VET and school enrolments too.

“Airline disruptions and increased costs, compared to pre-Covid, have also created difficulties for other cohorts,” she said. “Then there are visa backlogs, acknowledged by Home Affairs. It is therefore probably unrealistic to expect numbers to have bounced back to pre-Covid levels only 8-9 months after the borders reopened.”

International Education Association of Australia Phil Honeywood said Australia would be “foolish to overlook the incredibly large market that China provides”.

“The challenge is, firstly, to get them back into Australia to study and, secondly, to encourage them to enrol in more diverse courses,” he told The Australian.

Mr Clare said the whole international market was making a “slow recovery”, but there was opportunity for the international student cohort to help ease Australia’s skills shortages in the future. “This week is the Jobs and Skills Summit and international students can help us fill some of our critical skills gaps,” he said

“At the moment only 16 per cent of international students stay on after their studies end. A lot of those students are delivering us food and serving coffee in between classes.

“But when they graduate, they go home. Wouldn’t it be great if they stayed on and helped us fill some of the skills gaps we have?”

Mr Clare said other countries had “cottoned on” to the opportunity for international students to stay on after graduating and changed their visa settings accordingly.

“It’s something that’s worth looking at here too,” he said.