Temporary student visa arrivals, April 2019, 46,580. April 2020, 30. No CMM did not leave noughts off

 By DIRK MULDER

 The new overseas travel statistics confirm what international education observers expected – and then some.

The number of people arriving on temporary student visas in February was down 34.5 per cent on last year. The decline was 18.3 per cent in March. And then in April arrivals collapsed by 99.9 per cent.

Commencement and enrolment data for March is imminent, which might confirm the bad news.

But what isn’t as awful as expected is the data for departures. The idea that international students already here when the COVID-19 crisis commenced went home in droves is wrong.

In February, departures in the temporary student category were down 35.1 per cent (44 650 in 2019 to 28 960 in 2020). They were up in March by 31.9 per cent (31 950 last year, 42 130 this).  And in April they were down 78.2 per cent (45 410 in 2019 to 9 910 in 2020).

February-April overall in 2019 saw 122 010 departures, compared to 81 000 for the same period this year – a decrease of 33.6 per cent.

Certainly, some might not be able to get home, but it would appear the majority of international students decided to sit-out the pandemic here.

Dirk Mulder is CMM’s international education correspondent