Roshan Ghimire
Australian universities lost a greater source of revenue so Internationalstudents are leaving Australian universities in flock, and yet the federal
government is looking the supplementary way,
COVID 19 has change the world economic condition which created thehuge negative impact on education sector. On 20 th March 2020,Australia unopen its international borders for all international students andarrivals, except for Australian citizens and New Zealand citizens residing inAustralia, and citizens of Pacific Island countries transiting to homecountries.This border stoppage influence international students too, and so Australianuniversities lost a substantial source of revenue. As a result, Universities inAustralia estimates that 17,300 jobs will be lost across Australianuniversities during the pandemic.This is compounded by the fact that Australian universities have had verylittle support from the federal government. Unlike charities and businesses,which had to show a drop in revenue over a one-month or one-quarterperiod to receive assistance, universities were required to show a drop overa six-month period.On top of this, public universities were entirely excluded from accessing JobKeeper payments, and only four private universities were exempted fromthe six-month rule.Raw data on international students in 2020 indicates a total loss of 882,482enrolments across the sector, with higher education making up 418,168 ofthese.As compare to 2019, the number of international students in 2020 fromChina, Nepal, Vietnam, and Brazil dropped significantly, thoughinterestingly this was not universal – the number from India, for instance,increased. Numbers also increased in vocational education, despite fallsacross the rest of the education sector.Situation in AustraliaAs 30 per cent of Australia’s 542,106 student visa holders are still strandedoutside Australia, especially in China, India, and Vietnam, their absencehas been felt in other sectors such as the housing market – thousands ofapartment buildings remained empty for much of 2020. This meant thatapartments previously accommodating thousands of students were no
longer a viable investment, pushing owners to sell at a price lower thanprevious years.Even into 2021, buildings remain empty in suburban areas in Sydney andMelbourne, and suburbs around universities have been hit especially hard.Australia’s largest student accommodation provider, Scape, with 14,000bedrooms around Australia and another 10,000 close to completion hasestimated 80 to 90 per cent drop in occupancy in 2021.While Indian students currently enrolled have been resilient to droppingaway during the crisis, offshore visa applications from India to study inAustralia have declined by 48 per cent, as Indian students are unlikely tostudy online. They are now looking to other destinations whose border ruleshave been more favourable to international students, like Canada.This problem won’t go away until borders open. Noting the strongassociation between migration policy and the international education sector,a Mitchell Institute report estimated that the number of internationalstudents will continue to reduce significantly if the international bordersremain closed.