As Australia scrambles to rebuild its $37.6 billion international student sector, more than a quarter of student visa holders remain offshore. | By Nicole Precel covid19
RMIT has seen an increase in interest from current and new international students to join on campus and anticipate a “slow and steady return which may take some time to reach pre-pandemic levels”.
According to a snapshot taken on June 27 by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, there are 414,954 holders of Australian student visas, of whom 109,773 are offshore. Clare said there was 24 per cent drop in the number of Chinese students starting university degrees in Australia in the first quarter of 2022.
“[Students in my course] all plan to stay here for a long time. I think that’s an important reason why I chose to come back to Melbourne, because of placement and a part-time job,” she said. Before the pandemic, overseas students contributed $13.7 billion a year to Victoria’s economy and supported nearly 80,000 jobs, according to figures used by the City of Melbourne.ranked it fifth in the world, after London, Munich, Seoul and Zurich. However, before the pandemic, the city was third.