Rebuilding Australia’s International Education System

Over the past eighteen months, many independent higher education and vocational training providers that have experience in supporting international students have had one wish – clarity with respect to a date for the return of international students to campuses in Australia. We now have one: 1 December 2021. The task ahead for the sector is to rebuild.

In any typical year, independent providers in Australia’s higher education and vocational training sectors support some 278,000 international students studying in Australia. Today, the number of student visa holders has declined by 48% since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic when Australia’s borders closed to international travellers. This provides just a tiny insight into the challenges the past eighteen months have presented to these providers as well as the task ahead of the nation in rebuilding Australia’s international education system.

First and foremost will be the need for the Australian Government to rapidly ramp-up visa processing capacity. There are already significant delays and a likely rapid surge in applications will see these delays worsen. Earlier this week I had the opportunity to discuss the need to rapidly expand visa processing capacity with the Minister for Home Affairs. The discussion highlighted the need to expedite visa processing to ensure the sustainability of independent international education providers.

With borders open, the task of attracting new students will begin in earnest. With that in mind, the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA) will continue to explore options regarding a registration scheme for onshore international education agents so as to ensure the relationship between the student and their tertiary education provider is managed in a way that protects the student and supports providers.

Attracting students will also see the commencement of new marketing initiatives. If you have an interest in these, be sure to check out the ITECA International Education Week, where you’ll hear from each state and territory about the respective initiatives to attract overseas students.

As we focus on rebuilding Australia’s international education system, it is important that we take the time to ensure that the lessons of the past eighteen months are understood. History shows that every ten years or so Australia’s international education sector faces a shock; however, as a nation, we don’t always use this experience to understand the challenges. We fail to use the experience to put in place risk mitigation strategies and to ensure that the nation’s international education sector has the policy architecture to respond to rapidly changing circumstances. In this context, ITECA has high hopes for the new Australian Strategy For International Education.

Currently being considered by the Australian Government, the strategy will need to guide the recovery of the sector and put in place the capacity to respond to emerging opportunities, including changes in student demands. In our discussions with the Australian Government, ITECA is arguing that the new strategy needs to create a new position, an Australian international education Commissioner. This will provide the leadership to equip the sector’s innovation and responsiveness to national needs and global circumstances for international education over the next decade.

It's been a tough eighteen months, and there are still challenges to come for independent higher education and vocational education and training providers that support so many terrific students from so many diverse places. However, we have a date. With that date, we have hope for these providers and the sector. With that hope, we can rebuild Australia’s international education system.

Don’t miss the ITECA International Education Week. This is sure to be the springboard for the recovery of the independent international education sector.

ITECA Membership - It's a great time to get involved.

Troy Williams, ITECA Chief Executive