Safety and quality issues deter overseas students

CHANGES to student visa rules could be the biggest cause of the decline in overseas enrolments in Australia, according to an April report from the New York-based Institute of International Education.

But a separate report last month by the same organisation suggests visas may have played only a minor role in the downturn, with Australia's arrangements perceived as far less complex than those of the US and Britain, but quality and safety concerns weighing heavily against Australia.

The earlier report, Who Goes Where and Why?, highlights Australia and Britain as the most likely casualties of a global shift in student mobility patterns. As competition for internationally mobile students intensifies, countries that make themselves less attractive inevitably find they are losing ground, it says.

The report underlines four factors that deter overseas students: discriminatory visa arrangements, immigration regimes that don't distinguish sufficiently between students and workers, excessive study costs and inadequate support.

Britain and Australia, whose student visa regimes are becoming less welcoming, could see both numbers and market share decline, it says.

The report warns of incompatibility between education and immigration policies in both countries. Changes in Australia's student visa approval process have made it harder for students to get visas and, importantly, to obtain permanent residency after graduation from the vocational education and training sector.

Aspiring students are now required to show the capacity to pay three years of living and tuition costs before receiving a student visa, which is estimated to be three times greater than similar requirements in Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the US.

But last month's report, What International Students Think about US Higher Education, suggests overseas students are largely unaware of these changes.

The report cites surveys of prospective students by IIE in 2009 and 2010. Of more than 9000 respondents, just 11 per cent perceived Australia's visa procedures as difficult or complex compared with 23 per cent for Britain and 49 per cent for the US.

The surveys, which covered 11 countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe, highlighted quality as the key issue for Australian international education. Just 19 per cent of respondents regarded Australia's higher education system as of high quality, compared with 23 per cent for France, 31 per cent for Germany, 33 per cent for Canada, 50 per cent for Britain and 76 per cent for the US.

Australia was first-choice destination of just 3 per cent of the respondents. The vast majority - 75 per cent - indicated they would opt for the US, followed by 8 per cent for Britain and 5 per cent for Canada.

The report also suggests safety concerns are a problem for Australia. Just 32 per cent of respondents perceived it as a safe place to study, compared with 38 per cent for Britain and 46 per cent for the US and Canada.

Security was a big issue in India, where just 5 per cent of respondents to the 2009 survey described Australia as safe study destination, suggesting media coverage of attacks against Indian students at that time had a big influence on public perceptions.

But cost didn't rate as a significant issue for prospective students, with Australia seen as having a lower cost of living than any of its five main competitor countries. And Australia was also perceived as posing fewer language obstacles than its two key English-speaking competitors. Just 6 per cent of respondents thought language would be a barrier in Australia, compared with 10 per cent for Britain and 11 per cent for the US.

Source: The Australian