A rise in student visa applications in Australia over a six-month period last year signals that the international education industry could be recovering from a four-year slump in enrolments, leading to expectations for a national education strategy for Australia, a leading education exporter.
Australian Department of Immigration and Statistics data shows a 7.1% rise in year on year student visa applications from March to September 2013, propelled by offshore applications for higher education institutions benefiting from streamlined visa processing (SVP).
According to the government, this was the highest September quarterly figures in the last four years with most sectors including ELICOS and VET experiencing growth.
Figures show offshore applications increased by 27.6% from the same quarter last year to 40,306- the highest number since 2009
“A 7% overall increase in student visa lodgements clearly bodes well for Australia,” Phill Honeywood, executive director of the International Education Association of Australia told The PIE News.
“The sector is optimistic that the Federal Government will shortly release a whole of government response to the Chaney Review. A national strategy should be a lynchpin of any such response,” confirmed Honeywood.
Figures show offshore applications increased by 27.6% from the same quarter last year to 40,306 – the highest number since 2009’s 46,132.
The rise owes to a 42% increase in applications for higher education visas, driven by streamlined visa processing introduced last June.
Offshore VET visas showed year on year growth of 9% and independent ELICOS providers experienced a slight increase over the quarter from 5,518 to 5,943 applications over all.
Traditional source countries continue to dominate visa applications, leading Honeywood to warn that “too much reliance on exponential growth from China, India and Vietnam may not be healthy for the longer term.”
“Students from these three key countries already complain about having so many students from their home country in their Aussie classes,” he said.
With a 4.9% rise, China maintains its top position accounting for a quarter of overall offshore lodgings, totalling 18,641 applicants for the period.
Indian applications were up 7.3% while Vietnam lodgings surged by 41.6%.
Applications from other top markets including Brazil, Pakistan and Nepal also showed growth, however, numbers outside of the top seven dropped.
Honeywood says the decline of student numbers from South Korea and smaller markets including Saudi Arabia, Colombia and Japan could “lead to a lack of marketing focus” in those countries and contribute to further reliance on traditional markets.
Onshore applications meanwhile decreased overall by 10.2% due to lower applications for both HE and VET visas.
“The sector is optimistic that the Federal Government will shortly release a whole of Government response to the Chaney Review”
SVP was recently extended to 22 private providers but Honeywood says their influence on further growth figures is unlikely considering most have comparatively lower enrolment numbers.
The success of the SVP and lighter hand regulation have served to bolster the AUD$15 billion industry and leaders are now pressing for a national strategy – similar to what governments have introduced in Canada and the UK – in order to maintain growth.