By CLAIRE FIELD

some did really well

Last week’s excellent International Education Association of Australia Global Competitiveness and Growth Symposium canvassed a range of issues as the sector welcomes international students back to campuses here in Australia and reflects on its current levels of offshore delivery and if/how to expand them.

The message from Melissa Banks, Head of International Education at Austrade, was clear – the trade minister’s number one priority is trade diversification including international education. Examples of successful offshore delivery models were shared and included both institutions with an established physical presence, e.g. RMIT Vietnam, and those exploring new offshore models such as the Uni SA –  Accenture partnership, and the work the Gordon Institute is doing in India.

The 2021 Higher Education Student Statistics provide interesting insights into how universities and other higher education institutes adapted their international education activities during COVID. Comparing 2019 activity with 2021 shows, for example, that in terms of onshore international students:

* there was an overall 36 per cent decline

* all institutions experienced a decline, except Charles Darwin (up 4 per cent))

* for 11 universities the drop in on-shore international students was greater than 50 per cent: Charles Sturt U (-71 per cent), Bond U (-70 per cent), CQU (-69 per cent), Federation U (-57 per cent), Uni Sydney (-57 per cent), Uni Sunshine Coast (-57 per cent ) La Trobe Uni (-55 per cent), James Cook U (-54 per cent), ANU (-53 per cent ), Southern Cross Uni (-51 per cent ), Uni Wollongong (-51 per cent)

* non-university higher education providers in Queensland (-68 per cent) and WA (-53 per cent) also experienced larger than average declines.

There were also very significant institutional differences in offshore international student enrolments between 2019 and 2021.

Across the whole sector, offshore students increased by 56 per cent and many providers with established offshore campuses were able to increase the share of their international students they educated overseas (e.g. Uni Wollongong, RMIT, James Cook U, etc).

Others which prior to COVID had very little offshore delivery were able to rapidly pivot. For example Uni Sydney lifted the number of international students they had studying offshore from just 503 students in 2019 to 22 437 at the end of 2021.

Universities and NUHEPs which increased their offshore enrolments by 100 per cent or more during Covid included: Uni Sydney (+4361 per cent), Queensland NUHEPs (+3892 per cent), Uni Queensland (+2317 per cent), CQU (+1053 per cent), Uni Adelaide (+795 per cent), ANU (+384 per cent) Uni SA (+261 per cent), QUT (+167 per cent), Victorian NUHEPs (+157 per cent), Bond U  (+151 per cent), Deakin U (125 per cent), Torrens U (+121 per cent) and Uni of Melbourne (+109 per cent).

Surprisingly, some universities with relatively strong offshore international student numbers in 2019 saw offshore enrolment numbers drop during the pandemic.

Claire Field is an advisor to the tertiary education sector. Further analysis is available on her website.