Long Covid’ for Australia and New Zealand international education

Australia and New Zealand’s international education sectors face prolonged pain from Covid-19 as competitor countries capitalise on a “fortress” mentality Down Under, an expert said.

Jon Chew, head of analytics at Navitas, said the two nations faced protracted “competitiveness” issues as northern hemisphere rivals hoovered up foreign students. “Australia and New Zealand are likely to suffer from long Covid,” Mr Chew told the Australian International Education Conference.

But he predicted “green lights across the board” for Canada and the UK. “Whether it’s the vaccine rollout, open borders, the reduction in quarantine requirements [or] flights being available…[they] have had very optimal conditions for several months now.”

Mr Chew said the number of Australian student visas granted to offshore applicants over the first half of 2021 was 18 per cent lower than the equiv

alent period last year, and 61 per cent down on 2019 figures.

Canada, by contrast, had started 2021 well after it “dropped the ball” in the lead-up to last year’s autumn intake. Thirtyseven per cent more new study permits were issued in the first half of the year than in the

equivalent period of 2020, and 4 per cent more than in 2019.

In the UK, a “whopping” 161 per cent increase in the issue of sponsored study visas had pushed new student numbers around onethird higher than in preCovid days.

The two northern hemi

sphere countries are “incredibly well-placed for any release in pent-up demand in the second half of this year”, Mr Chew said. And there was clear evidence of pent-up demand in student surveys and website visits to global education services business IDP.