What is affecting international student enrolments in Australia?

The Crikey magazine published an article last week warning that Australian Universities are facing a crisis as international student enrolments are drying up. The largest source country for international students in Australia is China. Chinese students account for almost 30% of the foreign student revenue in Australia. India and Nepal are next in line as the most important source countries of international students in Australia. India, Nepal and China have been the largest growing source countries in the last six years. As per data released by the Dept. of Home Affairs, the number of student enrolments from China has declined by 3.3% in June 2019. Yet, there was a surge in Indian student enrolments by 34.3% and Nepalese student enrolments by 19.6%. The total number of student enrolments until June 2019 was a record 406,000, which was a 7.3% increase over the last year. Even though the current international student inflow looks healthy, recent visa changes may cause the numbers to decline in the future. The Australian Govt. has slashed the permanent migrant intake by 30,000 for the next four years. Reduced visa places for PR has already dimmed the attractiveness of Australia as a study abroad destination. The UK is one of the major competitors of Australia in the international education market. When the UK had terminated its Post-Study Work Visa in 2012, students thronged Australia by the thousands. The UK has now brought back the two-year Post-Study Work Visa which is particularly attractive to Indian students, as per Macro business. Lastly, the Australian Govt. has labelled India, Pakistan and Nepal as “high-risk” countries. There have been many instances where non-genuine students from these countries have applied for admission to Australian Universities. With Australia considering these countries as “high-risk”, international students applying to Australia will now face tighter scrutiny. These students will not only show strong English proficiency but also prove that they have sufficient funds to support themselves while they are in Australia. As per reports, several Universities in Australia have refused to admit students from India. Some Universities have cancelled already existing enrolments. Thus, with applications from China decreasing and India and Nepal being labelled “high-risk”, the number of international student enrolments is expected to go down. This may pose a serious financial concern for Australia as revenue from international students contributes greatly to the Australian economy. Y-Axis offers a wide range of visa and immigration services as well as products to overseas immigrants including Australia Evaluation, Visit Visa for Australia, Study Visa for Australia, Work Visa for Australia and Business Visa for Australia. If you are looking to Study, Work in Australia, Visit, Invest or Migrate to Australia, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Company. If you found this blog engaging, you may also like… 2019 INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLMENTS – AUSTRALIA