University sector warned to diversify, amid concerns ‘over-reliant’ on China

Australia’s university sector has been warned it needs to diversify and recruit international students from Africa and Latin America after decades of over-reliance on China.

EY Global Education Leader Catherine Friday has warned Australian universities they need to diversify and recruit international students from Africa and Latin America after decades of over-reliance on China.

EY global education leader Catherine Friday has warned universities they need to diversify and recruit international students from Africa and Latin America after decades of over-reliance on China.

Ms Friday has warned the sector that tertiary student numbers are dropping as would-be students grapple with cost-of-living pressures and instead opt to remain in the workforce amid a record high employment rate.

“Domestically students aren’t returning to uni in the numbers we had hoped for,” she said.

“It’s less financially viable to be a student at the moment – housing is expensive and hard to come by, and cost-of-living pressures are very real.

“And with such a strong jobs market on top of the cost-of-­living pressures, people don’t necessarily need a tertiary education to get into the jobs market. When the job market is soft, being a student is much more ­appealing.”

Ms Friday said “mid-tier” Australian universities were increasingly competing to attract both domestic and international students due to the high number of viable international options.

“The situation for universities in Australia remains particularly volatile post-Covid, they are having to compete like never before to attract domestic and international students,” she said.

“What we are seeing in Australia in particular for mid-tier universities is increasing competition ... for example, ­Argentina now has some world- class universities.

“We are also needing to broaden our reach to attract students beyond our traditional source of students, for example into Africa and Latin America.”

It comes as EY and The Times Higher Education release a global report into problems in the sector, which found that nine out of Australia’s 38 public universities had recorded a combined deficit of nearly $850m in 2022.

The survey of 11 university leaders across Australia, Canada, the UK and the US found that there was widespread concern about the long-term financial sustainability of the sectors. They expected more institutions to slip into deficit.

The report also found that many Australian universities had embarked on a campaign of cost-cutting and asset sales which was unsustainable.

The report said the pandemic had “redirected international student flows and some markets have yet to recover” – this ­included Australia.