Blog
The Australian international education industry – Roadmap for sustainable growth
The Australian international education industry suffered severely during the pandemic and now Industry needs support from Australian policy makers. Canada, USA, and the UK made aggressive moves even during the pandemic and captured the majority share of the international education market. Australian numbers are at the bottom for the obvious reason of “border closure since long”. Australia has unique strengths including high ranked and innovative universities, favourable weather, Proximity to Asia and required skill migrants. It’s high time for Australia to bounce back. If Australia takes prompt decisions and proactive actions based on the data/market insights and proven facts, a lot of potential to attract quality international students in decent numbers quickly with keeping in mind “the longevity of the sector”.
Let’s start with diving into the current state of the market with student visa grant statistics and what is driving the growth of top-performing study destinations. Then we can map strategies suitable for Australia keeping in mind the strength and needs of Australia. The sustainable growth formula is to create a magnet for international students and then filter the best suitable students based on the targeted number while keeping sustainability and longevity in mind.
The attractiveness of different study destinations among Indian students
In my opinion, the number of new students attracted by the study destinations is the most significant parameter to judge the current attractiveness of study destinations. Hence, I always prefer to focus on the student visa grant number of Indian students.
To understand the big picture of competition among the top English-speaking destinations and attractiveness among Indian students, let’s see the trends before and during the pandemic in Data Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, and chart 1. You can find these tables and charts in the Appendix 1 section at the end of this blog.
Some of the important observations from the Table and charts:
- You can see a constant rise in the numbers as well as the market share of Canada. Moreover, looking at the last few years’ stats, Canada’s growth is steady near to the 50% market share since 2017 and more than 1,00,000 Indian students each year. Looking at the student numbers in 2019 and 2021, we can assume that Canada aims for nearly 1,50,000 students each year.
- When you look at UK numbers, Please remember that the major intake for the UK is September intake and UK processing time is very quick – From one day processing time for a super-priority student visa to 15 days for normal. Hence most of the students get visas for September intake in August. In a recent UKVI meeting with key education agencies, they shared that they got way more growth compared to predicted growth for September 2021 intake and afterward. Also to provide ideas on probable growth, Please check the below numbers for January to June for years 2019 to 2021 with Total numbers for these years. We can safely assume more than 50,000 students for 2021 and most of them are in the higher education sector as PSW only after higher education qualification in the UK.
Which factors attract the growth of Indian students across all study destinations – Magnet for students
- Most generous PSW benefits and Pathway to Permanent Residency for students are the important factors attracting Indian students to Canada. Also, this is not a short-term strategy, it’s been working for a decade now. On the other hand, Canada is attracting global business talent including global companies. This may be the reason for the longevity of this strategy. Australian policymakers and stakeholders should do a detailed analysis of this.
- Also looking at market trends and various data, it’s safer to assume that approx 45,000 to 50,000 Indian students are enrolling at Canadian universities each year. Considering the entry criteria of Canadian universities in the blog section below, 50,000 students with such a high entry bar is excellent and Australia needs to evaluate strategies to have similar quality of students in high numbers for Australian universities. I believe that Australia has potential and can achieve this if they prepare a strategy and take action. An important element of strategy should be to create a magnet to attract students and then raise the bar. To create the magnet Australia should create a value proposition to compete with What Canada and the UK offer to the international students.
- USA returns strongly by just sending positive signals and lowering the bar of student visas unofficially in the Indian market. The new government of the US is sending positive signals to the international students and Pro-immigration policies. 2021 is a solid year for the USA.
- You can see a constant rise in the numbers of the UK from 2019 to 2021. The UK’s new PSW has attracted record numbers of Indian students. In addition to PSW, the majority of Indian students value the brand the UK has and its quality of Education along with the positive impact of the long history of Indo-UK education ties. Also, entry criteria for UK student visas are much quicker and easier than Canada and Australia & very much a high student visa grant rate. Most of the time between 2020 and 2021, the UK has more than a 96% grant rate.
- Canada and the UK are constantly sending positive signals to international students by providing benefits like PSW for offshore digital education. Canada, USA and the UK kept their momentum going despite the challenges faced due to the Pandemic.
- Australia has a visible significant drop in numbers and market share as the Australian government closed borders to protect Australians from the Pandemic. It’s time for Australia to bounce back strongly to support Australian education.
- Looking at the trends; Canada will continue to be at the top, the UK and the USA might have tough competition for 2nd and 3rd position, Australia might be at 4th and New Zealand will be at 5th position in the year 2021.
- 2022 will be interesting for sure!
Attractiveness among students – Quality Analysis – University and student visa criteria
You may find many surveys and market sentiment analysis announcing Canada as the most preferred destination for Indian students. Also, the visa grant numbers in the below tables in Appendix 1 prove the same. I believe that this is a huge advantage for any study destination. Canada has created a magnet by offering the most generous PSW benefits and very high chances of Permanent residency after study in Canada. And now they keep raising the bar based on the number target. Right now Canada is attracting the student with the below profile:
Most common admission criteria of public Canadian universities
- IELTS 6.5 Band OR 7 Bands overall with minimum 6.5/6.0 bands in each section.
- Backlogs of 3 OR Less.
- Overall good academic record – most distinction OR above in academics.
Most common admission criteria of Canadian Polytechnics/community colleges (Similar Australian TAFE Model
- IELTS 6 bands in each section mean in most of the cases IELTS 6.5 Band overall OR higher score.
- Backlogs of 5 OR Less. Very few institutes accept more backlogs.
- Overall good academic record – most first-class and above in academics.
The majority of Indian students apply through the Canadian SDS stream and below is the criteria for the SDS stream:
- IELTS 6 bands in each section mean in most of the cases IELTS 6.5 Band overall OR higher score.
- One year of tuition fees paid in Advance
- 10,000 $ GIC for Accommodation
- Good academic record
Immigration departments of the USA and UK leave the academic requirement and Language test requirement on the Universities to decide. Hence USA and UK are attracting a mixed quality of students as criteria vary from university to university. Therefore, I largely focus on Canada in this section which shows the benefit of becoming a magnet for international students.
Sentiment among educations Agencies
Navitas has been capturing the views of education agents around the world. The latest survey of more than 1,000 agents in more than 70 countries reveals that Australia has now lost whatever limited reputational advantages it enjoyed during COVID-19. Mr. Jonathan Chew has been a great source of useful data around market trends. Please read the excellent article written by Mr. Jonathan Chew on this URL – https://insights.navitas.com/australias-reputation-reaches-lowest-point-no-clear-plan-for-the-recovery-of-international-students/
First step – Border Opening ASAP with concrete timeline and procedure guidance
Australia has exceptionally done well in terms of protecting citizens and their health during the Pandemic. I loved the Australian approach to protect its citizens during the pandemic. However Australia has achieved vaccination targets now and most of the states are positive about welcoming international students. Most of the source countries have opened the border for international students for a long time. As a first important step, Australia needs to open borders for vaccinated international students ASAP. Students and the whole industry wants to know the exact national border opening plan with dates and guidance. Further delay can cause damage to the Australian international education industry.
We should look at the Canadian example, they took a cautious approach without harming international education. They kept their border open the majority of the time after the 1st wave of the COVID Pandemic. They took all the precautions including tests, quarantine, vaccination requirements, travel through 3rd country, etc. Now they removed all other requirements and kept only one requirement for vaccinated international students and that is the PCR test before boarding the flight. With all of this, the Canadian government protects its citizens as well.
How Australia Can attract best and bright student – impactful quickly and long term strategy
Without any changes also, Australia can attract more international students and can achieve the number target. However, offering more benefits to the students will be helpful to attract the bright and best students. So the quality of the cohort will increase for sure.
As discussed above ROI, Investment required (Tuition fees and living cost), and Entry criteria are the most important parameters to decide the quality and quantity of students. Most of the Indian students consider employment outcomes, more generous post-study work visas, high chances of Permanent residency, and a welcoming environment are important factors as part of ROI and hence these are the important strategic factors to attract more Indian students.
In my opinion; Australia should offer more benefits to the international students to attract more quality students in terms of PSW, offering more points for Australian education in skill migration, etc… Australia needs to re-think its value proposition with the SWOT Analysis.
The UK’s new PSW has attracted record numbers of Indian students. For example, the majority of the Indian students are going for a master’s degree and students can get a PSW of 2 years after a master’s degree of one year.
On the other hand, if international students complete one year of master’s degree in Australia; they are not eligible for PSW. If students complete a Bachelor OR Master degree of 2 years OR More then only eligible for PSW.
So if you look at the value proposition / Return of Investment perspective, students have incentives to choose Canada and the UK. Bright students always do their calculations well and ROI is the most important factor. Hence to attract bright students and improve the quality of the student cohort, generous PSW rights are the most important factor.
Retaining High quality trained students through additional points for skilled migration
High-quality students with high-quality Australian education and decent financial backgrounds are an asset for Australia OR any country. Attracting the best students will help increase the skilled employment outcome as well. Australia needs migrants and migration benefits can attract bright Indian students. Hence If Australia creates a strategy to connect this with the skill migration strategy, It can be a miracle for Australian education as well as for the Australian economy. In my personal opinion, Australia should not miss this opportunity.
Canada is an excellent example connecting international education and skill migration. Also, this is not a short-term strategy for Canada, it’s been working for a decade now.Without such strategy also, Australia can attract more students. However, This strategy will be beneficial in attracting high quality students.
Also please remember Australian university education is costly if we compare it with Canadian and US universities. UK universities are costly, However, a Master’s degree of 1 year in the UK offers PSW rights which is cost-effective compared to 2 years of an Australian master’s degree to gain PSW benefits.
As a long-term approach, Australian policymakers and stakeholders should work on increasing employability after study and during post-study work visas. This can be a game changer.
Empathy for students
A more generous approach required for the continuing international student affected due to Pandemic. Canada took a more generous approach by offering PR benefits to more international students. Surprisingly NZ also took a good approach. Australia can offer a more generous approach in terms of PSW eligibility and PSW duration with the quick processing of PSW visa applications.
What if no action – status quo
Without any changes also, Australia can attract more international students and can achieve the number target. However, offering more benefits to the students will be helpful to attract the bright and best students.
ROI, Investment required (Tuition fees and living cost) and Entry criteria are the most important parameters to decide the quality and quantity of students. Hence No action from the Australian government may result in a slow recovery and increase the chance of lower bar of entry in terms of student visa criteria. As a businessman, I love growth; however, I prefer sustainable growth with happy students and happy stakeholders. I am a big fan of some of the Australian initiatives like tuition protections, compliance protection mechanisms (For example – PRISM, eCOE, encouraging Self-regulating agency bodies like AAERI), eVisa and Global student visa load sharing, etc…
I am highly optimistic about the Australian international education sector and Australian policymakers. I am sure 2022 will be the most exciting year of new milestones and hope.
All the best and Please share your views through comments below !
Appendix 2: Data Sources
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/90115b00-f9b8-49e8-afa3-b4cff8facaee
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release#data-tables
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/documents/statistics/statistics-first-time-students
You can estimate Canadian University numbers for Indian students based on the data below sources.
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/90115b00-f9b8-49e8-afa3-b4cff8facaee
