International student revenue to halve by year end

Revenue from international students has tanked by 28% to $26.7 billion for the 2020-21 financial year and on current trends revenue will have dived to $20 billion by the end of the year, around half what it was worth at its peak in 2019.

From The AFR:

“What was Australia’s third-largest export sector just a couple of years ago is still to reach rock bottom,” [Peter Hurley, education policy fellow at the Mitchell Institute] said, adding that at the beginning of 2021 there were 260,000 fewer international students in Australia than a year earlier…

Alex Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates… says that the era of globalisation as the raison d’etre for universities is over, with local needs taking primacy over international engagement.

This this actually good news. For too long, Australia’s universities have focused on serving foreigners. Locals are an after thought.

One of the positive side effects of COVID is that it has lowered Australia’s international student numbers to more reasonable levels from the absurd concentrations experienced pre COVID:

Australia’s concentration of international students was extreme pre-COVID.

Australia’s universities might now actually concentrate on delivering a quality education and positive education experience for Australian students. That is their primary purpose, after all.