The company reports student placements to Australia for the 2021 financial year were down 40 per cent on 2020, compared to a 12 drop overall

Income for student placements to Australia was down from $90.4m in 2020 to $59.7m. Among major competitors, there was a 4 per cent increase in volume of students starting courses in the UK. But while Canada was “strong” volumes were down 12 per cent, “impacted by border closures and delays in visa processing.”

India (down 24 per cent) and China (17 per cent) still account for the bulk of IDP’s placement business.

Overall revenue fell 10 per cent to, $528m with net profit of $39.5m

Last year IDP chief executive Andrew Barkla set out three steps Australia needed to take urgently to “retain” its international education market,

* “clear facts on visas and fees”

* welfare programmes for international students

* screenings and medical checks for arriving international students

“This is too important to be caught up in bureaucracy. Australia must act now, or its thriving international education sector – and its reputation as a nation – will be irreparably damaged,” he wrote in CMM (May 26 2020).

They did not happen – and international demand is down