Top unis’ students stranded by ban may take up overseas course

Australian students due to start degrees at prestigious overseas universities fear they may not be allowed out of the country, due to the ban on Australians travelling overseas

Student Rupert Balfe is set to begin studies at the University of Oxford in the UK but is unsure whether he will be granted an exemption to the travel ban to make this happen. Picture: Paul Jeffers

Australian students due to start degrees at prestigious overseas universities fear they may not be allowed out of the country, due to the ban on Australians travelling overseas.

Students due to take up courses at the start of northern hemisphere academic terms, typically in August to October, are uncertain of gaining federal government permission.

Any Australian wanting to leave the country must gain an exemption to the COVID-19 travel ban from the Department of Home Affairs.

The Weekend Australian has established there is no specific exemption for Australian students wanting to study overseas.

They can apply for exemptions for “urgent and unavoidable personal business” or on “compassionate grounds” but Home Affairs will not give any guarantees, nor any specific guidance, to students.

“Each case is unique and ­considered individually based on the information and supporting evidence provided in the application,” a department spokeswoman said.

That is making life uncertain for students who have gone to great effort and some expense to line-up degree places at top universities in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Melbourne-based student Rupert Balfe is due to fly to London this month to begin studying a three-year degree in juris­prudence at the University of Oxford.

While he had heard of one successful applicant for an exemption in order to study abroad, this had been a person part-way through a course, and he was unsure how those starting courses would fare.

“I’ve applied for an exemption under ‘urgent and unavoidable personal business’ and it’s just a waiting game now,” Mr Balfe said.

“There is a lack of clarity. You would have thought studying internationally would be its own category of exemption. Even now I don’t know if my application will get accepted.”

In his view, and that of other students who have spoken to The Weekend Australian, the government has no logical reason to prevent students leaving Australia for courses.

Mr Balfe said getting accepted to Oxford had been a “very long and complicated application process”, including interviews at the university last year. “Oxford ranks amongst the top universities in the world and I’ve put a lot of effort into this application and it’s definitely going to have a big impact on my career,” he said.

“It’s not really our government’s place to stop us leaving if we don’t have the intention of coming back (soon). The UK is willing to accept us … and the university is running. So what’s the reason for them to stop us, particularly if we can’t transmit the virus back to Australia?”

Students believed giving the final say on such a vital career step to Home Affairs bureaucrats was inappropriate, but the department defended the ­process.

“The current travel restrictions have been implemented on the advice of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, as two thirds of Australia’s coronavirus cases had been sourced from overseas during the pandemic,” said the department spokeswoman.