Australian international education leaders share their views

More than 80% of international students in the Australian higher education sector come from just 10 countries. In the VET sector the equivalent figure is approximately 70%. Against this backdrop the sector has started to see declining interest from Chinese students and visa restrictions imposed on students from India, Nepal and Pakistan. In 2018 students from these four countries made up almost two-thirds of international student enrolments in higher education and around one-third in VET.

At the same time the United Kingdom has announced the re-introduction of generous post-study work rights for postgraduate students. Early advice from education agents based in the Indian sub-continent is that collectively these changes are already having an impact, with prospective students choosing the UK rather than Australia.

Clearly Australian tertiary education providers, particularly our universities, will need to re-think their international engagement strategies on the basis of these changes. And that in itself may not be a bad thing.

Claire was joined on the ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recently by three experts in the international education sector: Kadi Taylor from Navitas, Rebecca Hall from Austrade and Nicole Brigg from Macquarie University. They shared their views on what’s currently happening in the sector and what lies ahead.

Listen to one or all of the different episodes with these three leaders. Search for ‘What now? What next?’ in your favourite podcast app or click here to listen on the website.