Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge said on Thursday he was confident tens of thousands of overseas students would come back next year,boosting universities’ bottom lines,as he released 2020 financial statements for the sector.
There is confusion among universities and students about when fully vaccinated international students will be allowed to return in large numbers and whether they will have to quarantine.Supplied
In total,16 of the country’s 39 comprehensive universities reported a deficit,with an overall net loss of $1.9 billion across the sector compared with 2019. Investment revenue fell by $1.3 billion,while overseas student fees were down by $756 million.
Despite this,universities still collectively banked $9.2 billion in overseas student fees last year,amounting to almost 27 per cent of their operating revenue.
But with states opening up in a fragmented way and pursuing separate pilot programs for offshore students,there is widespread confusion about the pathways for their return.
International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood said the messaging for overseas students waiting to return had been a “dog’s breakfast”.
“Confusion reigns supreme at the moment,” he said. “How does any university or any education provider plan for next year if they just don’t know which options or programs would apply to these students.”
NSW and Victoria plan to fly in up to 250 vaccinated students a fortnight on charter flights under federal government-approved pilot programs before Christmas,while a similar plan in South Australia has stalled.,with students to return next year on condition they quarantine at the Wellcamp facility in Toowoomba,which is still being built.
It is still unclear when students may begin returning in line with the national reopening plan,despite the country progressing to Phase B last week after hitting a national 70 per cent vaccination rate. Phase B proposes lifting the ban on international students arriving on commercial flights in favour of as-yet-undetermined “capped” places.
Meanwhile, and Victoria’s pilots hinge on inoculated students completing two weeks’ quarantine once they arrive,despite that requirement ending for double-vaccinated Australians.
NSW Vice-Chancellors’ Committee convener Barney Glover said the first two flights of international students would arrive in December but a lack of certainty around the rollout of the Commonwealth’s vaccine certification system meant they would be required to quarantine.
“The crucial issues for quarantine-free arrivals for visitors (including tourists,migrant workers and international students) are TGA recognition of an increasing number of vaccines and vaccine certification at the border,which are Commonwealth responsibilities,” Professor Glover,vice-chancellor of Western Sydney University said.
“As the latter is not yet in place,we need to include quarantine in our plan at this stage. Increasingly the states are indicating their views on quarantine but we need the Commonwealth to finalise their aspects as soon as possible.”
Higher education experts have repeatedly warned universities face a multi-year hit to revenue due to protracted border closures and a decline in enrolments from high-fee-paying offshore students.
Dr Peter Hurley,from Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute,said he expected “the biggest losses will be felt this year and next”,adding that “loss of international students is yet to reach their lowest point”.
Mr Tudge said while the impacts of COVID-19 on the sector were clear in the 2020 results,universities’ fundamentals remained strong,with 23 reporting a net surplus.
But Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson said the sector’s average net operating margin of 2 per cent,down from 6.2 per cent the previous year,was now the lowest it had been in more than a decade.
“Overall,the number of international students commencing their studies has declined by more than 40 per cent in first seven months of the year at Australian universities compared to the same period in 2019,” she said.
National Tertiary Education Union president Alison Barnes said Mr Tudge’s assessment was a “kick in the teeth” to the thousands of academics and university staff who had lost their jobs through redundancies during the pandemic.
“The minister seems to skim over the fact this is the first time in history the Australian higher education sector has seen 16 institutions record net losses at this scale,” Dr Barnes said.
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