There’s good news for the international education industry – not that the government appears to care if no one notices

The prime minister was talking up more arrivals from overseas on Friday, due in part to the Therapeutic Goods Administration approving China and India manufactured CVID-19 vaccinations. Mr Morrison pitched this as allowing Australians offshore to come home, but HE lobbies were quick to point out the approval also applied to the countries which supply the most international students.

“The TGA decision clears the way for fully vaccinated students from China and India to re-join their friends on Australian university campuses in the near future. This is good news for universities and students, but also for Australia’s economic recovery,” Universities Australia’s Catriona Jackson said.

And international education supporters suggested more relaxed quarantine arrangements for returning Australians will mean more rooms for international students.

Not much of which was mentioned by Mr Morrison on Friday, who briefly said international students and skilled migrants would be able to arrive next year, “perhaps sooner” in NSW.

For now, the possibility of bringing students in from overseas is a collateral benefit of an improving situation.