The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency expects international enrolments will be down 25 per cent on 2020 levels by 2025

“While initial restrictions and border closures have ended, emerging variants pose threats, including, staff and student absences due to illness, the effects of long-COVID, concerns about face-to-face engagement and the impacts of pandemic workplace restrictions on work integrated learning,” the regulator warns in its 2022-2026 corporate plan.

“The financial viability of many providers has been challenged, with impacts yet to be fully realised,” TEQSA states.

TEQSA also predicts new products and providers over the next ten years, working “in specialised fields or in new markets that have traditionally been under0serviced by larger institutions. Online, offshore and third party offerings may increasingly challenge more traditional face-to-face, on campus learning, teaching and research and support services.”