international education
campusreview.com.au
‘Only part of the story’
How universities have responded
to China Student Boom report.
By Dallas Bastian
W
hile many of Australia’s
vice-chancellors have kept
mum on the subject of
universities’ reliance on Chinese students
to fill their coffers, others have tried to
temper concerns.
The public dialogue was sparked
by a report by Associate Professor
Salvatore Babones from the Centre for
Independent Studies that held universities
were taking “a multibillion dollar gamble
with taxpayer money” by relying too
heavily on record enrolment numbers of
international students.
“As long as their bets on the international
student market pay off, the universities’
gamble will look like a success,” Babones
wrote in the report, The China Student
Boom and the Risks It Poses to Australian
Universities. “[However] if their bets go sour,
taxpayers may be called on to help pick up
the tab.”
The report zeroed in on seven Australian
universities “that seem to have extraordinary
levels of exposure to the Chinese market”:
the Australian National University, the
University of Technology Sydney, and the
Universities of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide,
NSW and Queensland.
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The University of Sydney doubled
down, saying it expects to continue to
attract Chinese students due to China’s
population, proximity to Australia and
“ongoing strong growth in demand for
high quality international education”.
“We appreciate that diversification
of income is important for any large
organisation, which is why we have an
income diversification strategy,” the
university said in a statement.
“We’ve already seen an increase in
students from the USA, UK and Canada,
and we’re working to increase the
number of our students from India and
South-East Asia.”
An ANU spokesperson said it was a
research-intensive university and continued
to secure half of its revenue from high-
quality research activities and outputs.
In an opinion piece published in The
Australian Financial Review, UNSW VC
Professor Ian Jacobs said the report’s
commentary was “unremarkable in that it
says nothing essentially new” but added
it was “nonetheless disappointing in that
it continues an unhappy recent trend of
commentary about Australia’s engagement
with China that only tells part of the story”.
There are two key risks for the nation’s
universities that should not be conflated,
Jacobs said. One is predictable and easier
to mitigate, and related to “an inevitable
plateau – and then fall – in demand from
China as its own universities grow in
scale and improve in quality”; the other is
“deeply troubling” – a major geopolitical
development that would see students from
China, and other nations, no longer able or
willing to study in Australia.
Still, he assured that universities have
carefully considered these risks.
But another VC suggested there are more
elements at play than simple market forces.
University of Newcastle VC Professor Alex
Zelinsky told The Sydney Morning Herald
that universities were turning to overseas
students to offset federal funding cuts.
“Universities are relying on foreign
students to balance the books,” he said.
Universities Australia chair Professor
Deborah Terry said rather than a gamble,
Australia’s intake of international students
was “a great Australian success story”.
Terry added that universities give constant
and careful attention to future trends in
student recruitment and that the Tertiary
Education Quality and Standards Agency
backs this, assessing the vast majority of
Australia’s universities as being in a low risk
financial position.
“As not-for-profit public education
institutions, our universities prudently
manage taxpayer funds – and have
extensive expertise in doing so,” she said.
“International students fund their
own education and make an invaluable
contribution to Australia’s world-class
universities, their classmates, our local
communities and the economy.” ■