Highlights
- International students to return in July
- International education supports 250,000 Australian jobs
- Universities could lose $19 billion in the next 3 years
The ACT (Australian Capital Territory) will be the first state to lead a pilot program next month to bring back international students. The program is likely to be adopted across the country by individual states and universities.
Bringing back this cohort of temporary migrants features prominently in the government’s three-phase plan to re-open Australia.
In early May, while revealing the ‘Roadmap to a COVIDSafe Australia’, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said bringing back international students will be part of stage three of the three-step pathway for easing restrictions across the country.
A month later, the Prime Minister said Australia was ready and hoping to kick off its pilot scheme to bring back international students in July.
Why are international students being allowed to return?
While thousands of temporary visa holders are stuck overseas, many of them taxpayers with local jobs, why is the government giving international students a priority during the pandemic-related border closures?
They bring in thousands of dollars, support universities financially, create jobs and contribute massively to the economy, say experts.
International education contributed $37.6 billion to the Australian economy in 2018-19.
“Overseas students are crucial to Australian universities,” says Abul Rizvi, the former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration, who is currently doing a PhD on Australia’s immigration policies.
“They will face a massive budget hit in 2020 as will businesses that are located in the surrounding areas. The direct hit to university budgets vary but a credible estimate is $8 billion. The broader impact on the economy is estimated at $30 billion. These will contribute to substantial job losses, especially as most universities do not have access to Job Keeper,” he told SBS Hindi.
Recent modelling from Victoria University’s shows the absence of international students not only impact universities but the broader economy as well.
‘Such losses are not just a university problem. for every $1 lost in university tuition fees, there is another $1.15 lost in the broader economy due to international student spending,’ the report says.
‘This means the Australian economy could lose more than $40 billion by 2023 because of reduced numbers of higher education international students.’
The government, acutely aware of this fact, is, therefore, prioritising bringing back international students.
International education contributed $37.6 billion to the Australian economy in 2018-19. Source: Getty Images/PeopleImages
Minister for Education Dan Tehan acknowledged this on Friday and said Australia was bringing back international students to support Australian jobs.
“We are taking our first cautious steps towards international students returning much earlier than anyone would have predicted a few months ago, with National Cabinet last week agreeing to work closely and carefully on the return of international students through small, controlled pilot programs, provided internal borders are open and students are back on-campus.
“This is important because international education builds our connections to the rest of the world, supports 250,000 Australian jobs and contributed $40 billion to our economy last year,” Minister Tehan said at the National Press Club.
Australian universities could lose $19 billion in the next 3 years
Experts say the absence of international students will not only hit Australia’s fourth-largest export hard but will also affect jobs and the broader economy.
The Mitchell Institute’s modelling estimates missed intakes could result in loss of billions.
‘Each six-monthly intake missed due to closed borders will deliver an annual economic blow comparable to when Australia’s (worth around $5 billion), or the loss of Australia’s $4.1 billion ,’ the modelling says.
Mr Rizvi opines the absence of international students will shrink the Australia's universities.
Modelling from Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute Source: Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute
“Under current policy settings and a likely persistent weak labour market, the size of Australia's International Student industry will not return to the level as at mid-2019 for many years to come. Australia's universities will shrink during the early part of the decade of the 2020s,” he said.
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