Study abroad: Overseas student arrivals have improved, but the recovery phase still lies ahead

Despite a significant number of foreign students returning to Australia with study abroad programmes since the borders opened, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that arrivals this October are more than 40% lower than pre-COVID levels in 2019.

Australia is happy to see international students again on its campus. The chief executive of Universities Australia, Catriona Jackson in a release said that the newest government statistics demonstrate that international students are steadily returning to Australia’s world-class universities, which is fantastic news for the students with the study abroad programme. 

It is a positive development, but more effort needs to be done if Australia needs to regain the dominance it had of being the favourite study destination before the pandemic. Also, it is a known fact that industry return patterns are different, with specific colleges reporting slower returns. International students have a significant positive social, cultural, and economic impact on the country as per Jackson.

Before the pandemic, education was the third-largest export earner in Australia that was generating about $41 billion. The communities that international students join in Australia are also strengthened, improving our social fabric and bolstering our economy with fresh knowledge and skills.

The Bureau provided input to the government’s migration review that helped the Australian government determine how the universities can attract and keep the greatest talents in the country to contribute to Australia’s economic, social, and cultural prosperity.

Among all the citizens studying in Australia, India is the second-largest international student nation after China, with 96,000 students enrolled as of July 2022. For prominent higher education destinations including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, Indians constitute the second-largest source of international students, with China being the primary source overall. However, compared to China, India’s stake was either half as large or smaller. This indicates that Indians might outnumber all the other communities in Australia. 

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