University representatives hold signs as international students part of a pilot return program arrive at Sydney Airport on December 6, 2021International students are heading to Canada, the UK and the US in record numbers despite the pandemic, new research by the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University shows.Our report
International education is an important part of how many countries manage investment in their education sector. The report highlights the renewed emphasis countries are placing on attracting international students.Our report examined student visa data to understand the impact of the pandemic on prospective international students. Student visa data are a leading indicator, as most students normally need a visa before they can enrol.
Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US experienced falls greater than 80 per cent. By the September 2021 quarter, Canada, the UK and the US had rebounded to record levels for the available data on student visas. The table below shows the changes in the number of new student visas for the largest source countries.Nigeria has rebounded the strongest, driven largely by an increase in Nigerian students studying in the UK.
We talk tertiary education here. These Int’l students aren’t idiots. Will they really come back once we allow them to? Is it really a cash tap we can switch on as we please? Or will these students have a good look at how we treated them and even ourselves over the recent past?
There's more to consider than just the higher education sector! Overall Australia has performed better than most countries economically precisely because we have limited the spread of Covid.