campusreview . com . au international education was the thing they wanted the most was to be back in the classroom , next to their friends and talking face-to-face with teachers , lecturers and fellow students .
This is a great thing for the morale on campus and a great thing for the nature of learning .
We learned a huge amount through Covid-19 . The hybrid offerings online now are richer and more learning informed than they were before .
Certainly there ’ ll be changes in practise , but absolutely overjoyed to see those students return both from Australia back to the classroom and from overseas .
Let ’ s not forget that overseas students also make a substantial contribution to Australia ’ s bottom line .
What used to be a 40 billion industry was a slash to this 22 billion under GDP at the height of Covid-19 .
We ’ re expecting export figures out in the next couple of days which will give us an indication of where that ’ s moved to .
It ’ ll certainly be above 22 billion and back closer to that 40 billion figure , remembering that makes us the biggest services export and right up there with the one or two or three biggest exports across the entire Australian economy .
One thing Covid-19 has taught us , is that predictions are really quite complicated . It ’ ll be somewhere between those , those two figures . Certainly it ’ ll be an improvement .
What are some of the challenges universities can expect on and off campus this year ? I wouldn ’ t describe them as challenges to be completely honest , but obviously shifting back to what had been a completely standard routine before there may be a few little things to iron out but universities have been preparing for this day for a long time .
We know that accommodation may be a bit tight in some of the urban centres , but things seem to have calmed down there a bit , and at the start of every year there is always stress on accommodations .
We always do everything we can to make sure students coming from quite different countries around the world feel as welcome as we can possibly make them .
Domestic students will also be coming back out of the sort of isolation that Covid imposed upon on many people here and abroad .
Obviously , there are issues for universities to consider in the way they care for students , the way they bring them back into that on-campus experience .
But the overwhelming feeling is one of incredible enthusiasm to get back onto campus , back into the classroom , back into seminars , tutorials and into the library with your friends .
There ’ s been a lot of discussion lately around lack of student accommodation . Do you think that universities need to focus on building more infrastructure ? I don ’ t know that I ’ d say accommodations are filled for everything . The private sector has genuinely stood up and made a whole bunch of additional beds available .
Universities make very careful decisions about building accommodation .
Every year they do everything they can to make sure that there is a room , a bed , a place for university students to stay , especially when they come from either regional Australia or when they come from overseas .
I remember back when I worked at a university , the fluctuations mean that sometimes you need to make hotels available and find all sorts of alternatives .
The thing that universities are doing is making sure students are aware of all the options . Making sure they have the best possible opportunity of getting the best possible spot .
All sorts of schemes that are forced on campus to try and make sure students have somewhere to live that is safe and reasonably close to where they ’ re studying .
I wouldn ’ t describe the , the situation as a crisis . I ’ d just describe it as something we ’ re adapting to as well as we can and the market is adapting to as well as it can .
What can be done to better retain international students after they graduate ? We think there is a real opportunity for Australia in keeping those graduated students who are highly skilled .
As you said , only 16 per cent of those students stay . We have a job of work to do to ensure that more of them stay and feel absolutely welcome to stay . We ’ ve made very clear suggestions in our submission to the migration review .
The migration review is aimed at ironing out some of the lumpy , inconsistent silly bits of the system that have just happened because it ’ s sort of been built up piece by piece over time .
We ’ ve been very pleased to see that the relevant minister Claire O ’ Neill has been open to pushing for changes in the migration system to make sure we are able to retain more of those highly skilled students .
There are changes you can make around the number of visa classes and the way the application operate .
There are all sorts of things that can be done just on a practical operational level to make students able to get into their chosen profession quicker when they finish their degree .
All of this has been outlined in our submissions of the migration review , and we ’ re looking forward to the final report , which I understand is coming soon .
Do you think that since Covid-19 , the way universities view international students has changed ? I think the Australian University system has always seen international students for the full value they contribute , that is extraordinary cultural value , soft diplomatic value and value in our region .
When Australian universities made the decision to open their doors to international students 50-60 years ago it was part of a really broad scheme to play the best possible role we can in the region we live in , to take real responsibility for assisting countries , to build governance systems that are robust , to do all sorts of things that are in their interests and our interests .
And that ’ s how we ’ ve continued to build that system .
I think Covid-19 made us all think about an awful lot of things . I think the Australian public became more aware of the value of international students , even though a survey we conducted indicated that the Australian public genuinely understand the value international students contribute .
International students the contribution to the economy is 250,000 jobs and counting , and the work they do here and the opportunities they offer to Australian students when they sit next to them in class .
I think we knew international students were there before . They might have just come to the fall a little bit during the pandemic . ■
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