International students shy away from Australia

Australia, 27th September: International student enrolments are showing a decline of 6.3 percent for the year 2010 till June.

And the number of overseas student enrolments in VET and higher education are likely to go down in the coming five years period by nearly 30-40 percent. This could be attributed to several reasons stated below----

• In the recent past, the Australian government had disconnected the previous facility of certain Australian visas leading up to permanent residency in the country. And this has resulted in a big decline in the number of foreign students aspiring to move to Australia leaving a big jolt to the higher education sector of Australia.

• There has been quite a few significant changes in the Australian visa rules by Australian immigration department due to the possible risk of overstaying of international students on Australian student visas after completion of their studies. So, as of now, students wanting to pursue study in Australia will be required to show a bank balance of up to $150,000 for a period of six months before the Australian visa application date. Other nations like the UK ask for a deposit of $40,000(for only 28 days) while the US requires students to possess money for self-sufficiency.

• Tough competition is yet another factor that seems to be pushing off several international students away from Australia towards other nations. The US offers educational courses at far lower rates than those charged by the Australian universities and colleges. And this has led to the US grabbing higher number of students from different nations.

• Poor marketing strategies by Australian universities are resulting in poor enrolments for the Australian education sector. The element of marketing differentiation in the brochures of Australian colleges and universities is missing from the education fairs at various places including, Hong Kong or New Delhi.

So, now you see that all the above stated factors are taking a toll at Australia’s international education sector which fetched a revenue of around $18 billion in 2009 and created nearly 70,000 jobs in Australian universities, support businesses, government agencies and VET.

Foreign students contribute nearly 16 percent towards the total funds for Australian universities through the tuition fees on an average.

And the recent fall in the number of foreign student enrolments is going to result in poor demand for various goods and services and fall in rents in the real estate market.