‘Tim Dodd, in The Australian, 18 April 2018, with the title “Chinese defy warnings and flock to Australian universities”
Chinese students have defied unspecified ‘‘safety’’ warnings from their government amid fears of undue Chinese influence, flocking to Australia in larger numbers this year than ever before. Official figures to be released today show 173,000 Chinese students enrolled in Australian universities, colleges and schools in the first two months of 2018, 18 per cent more than in the same period last year.
In total, 542,000 students from more than 190 countries have enrolled in Australia so far this year, according to the latest data. This is 13 per cent more than for the same period last year, indicating yet another boost is on the way for education exports, which were valued at $32.2 billion in 2017.
Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the new figures showed Australia was “on track to continue our record-breaking run of growth in international education”. He said education exports supported about 130,000 jobs in tourism, retail and hospitality, on top of those in universities, colleges and schools. The continued growth in Chinese student numbers is a relief to universities which feared political tension between the two countries, as well as two official Chinese warnings to students about safety concerns in Australia, could turn them away.
The prestige Group of Eight universities are particularly reliant on Chinese student fees to fund research programs. Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson said the continued growth in student numbers showed that “despite the current political rhetoric outside of our sector, international students, particularly those from China, continue to see Australia, and importantly the Group of Eight, as a high-quality destination”.
But others point out that when the Chinese safety warnings were made in December and February, it was too late for students to withdraw from enrolment and political tension could still have repercussions down the track.
Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the government’s international education strategy, which brought a “whole of government” approach to the sector, was instrumental in forging the growth. We won’t make the same mistakes as the previous Labor government with their erratic changes to student visas that took years for our international education sector to recover,” he said.
Student numbers from other countries also grew strongly in January and February. Enrolments from India, the second-largest student source, grew 16 per cent to 63,000, while Nepal enrolments went up an astonishing 57 per cent to 29,000 to make it the third-largest student source.
Industry observers say the chaos of the 2015 Nepal earthquake has caused more Nepalese families to send their children to Australia for education. Student numbers from Latin America are also rising strongly with Brazil up 26 per cent to 19,000 and Colombia up 29 per cent to 12,000.
International Education of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood said part of Australia’ success was due to other countries toughening visa rules for students.
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ALSO SEE IN same AUSTRALIAN NEWS PAPER
* EDITORIAL: “High I mmigration is Good for the Natuonal Interest”
* JUDITH SLOAN: “High Immigration Rate a Great Deal for the Few”
INTERNET COMMENTS — a SELECTION
Stewart5 HOURS AGO
Education is just an industry .
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Helen5 HOURS AGO
One MILLION OVERSEAS students in the country and rising!
Most coming here to get onto the “Pathways to Permanent Residency” programs established by the Universities…. Universities Australia.
All getting RESIDENCY status the minute they enrol which enables the, to buy as many properties with mum and dads $millioms as they want
AND
All receiving work visas for 20 hours per week during semester and unlimited the rest of the time!
Many of them disappear off Campuses after a few weeks!
Goodbye to part-time and foot in the door JOBS especially for our UNEMPLOYED youth!!
This is a disaster that must be rolled back.
This is unseen MASS migration through the back door as they do not show up in the official Immigration stats. because they are already in the country and NOT counted as migrants!
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Alexander22 MINUTES AGO
@Helen GOLLY GOSH! Where do they disappear to!
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jim5 HOURS AGO
Why don’t the Universites sell baby formular also , then half of China will enrol .
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Peter6 HOURS AGO
We are living through a Chinese takeover of Australia. At least they are a pretty good lot.
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Robert5 HOURS AGO
@Peter I don’t think so
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ELIOT6 HOURS AGO
More overseas students propping up the tertiary education sector!?
Personal experience and anecdotal evidence suggests too many of these students will receive their diplomas and degrees without doing the hard-yards befitting the granting of the qualification. End result: A universal cheapening, demeaning, and depreciating of the value of diplomas and degrees
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Peter6 HOURS AGO
As Judith Sloan reports elsewhere in The Australian today international students perform poorly in the labour market after they graduate with disturbingly large numbers of them employed outside the professional-managerial class. Australia’s universities generally are producing huge numbers of graduates who will never ever work in a proper graduate job. What a vast waste of public resources. How pointless this is.
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Norma6 HOURS AGO
Yep, $30,000 in course fees for 2 or 3 years is all it takes to buy permanent residency.
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william6 HOURS AGO
@Norma you got it and that is why we are being sold down the river as a nation and with it our hard fought for way of life
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Jason7 HOURS AGO
Destroying university life and culture. Lets see how many attend once the pathway to permanent residency is removed.
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jim5 HOURS AGO
@Jason maybe two or three
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Robyn7 HOURS AGO
International Education of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood said part of Australia’ success was due to other countries toughening visa rules for students.
Now, why would other countries have done that? Do they perceive something we don’t?
Robyn S.
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Ron7 HOURS AGO
Soon we’ll be commemorating Anzac Day. What hypocrites we are. Selling out what they fought for their descendants to enjoy.
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Kevin7 HOURS AGO
🇦🇺Well why would they not flock to Australian universities it appears the majority of staff are now brain washed Marxists who shall welcome them with open arms & continue their “ education “.
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Laurie7 HOURS AGO
Given the decline in education in this country, I can’t see that the Chinese come here for a first rate education. More likely as a step in permanent stay, or to suss out the real estate market, or send baby formula back home?
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Ben7 HOURS AGO
This is excellent. International students directly subsidise Australian students.
The more international students paying top dollar the more Australian students are able to access a world leading education.
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Eda7 HOURS AGO
@Ben A rather naive view. As an ex academic I tend to believe their fees help to make our Vice-Chancellors the highest paid in the world. More than the Prime Minister of our beloved country in fact.
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Murray7 HOURS AGO
The more international students, the more our universities are transformed into visa factories and the worse the educational outcome for our own students as courses become “dumbed down” to accommodate the masses seeking permanent residency.
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Malcolm7 HOURS AGO
@Eda Ah Eda…youre a curmudgeonly leftie academic…tone it down a bit gurl.
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christopher7 HOURS AGO
@Eda @Ben You’ve nailed it!
