The Group of Eight’s Post

On Tuesday the chief executive of The Group of Eight, Vicki Thomson, told the Senate inquiry that capping international enrolments to pre-pandemic levels of 2019 for Go8 members against 2023 post-pandemic enrolment figures would have a massive impact. It would cost the nation more than $5.3bn in economic output and 22,500 jobs in the economy, the group estimated. “On the day when we’ve seen Wall Street suffer its worst result in two years, creating massive global economic uncertainty, why would we make a deliberate move to attack our own economic growth?” Read the full Opening Statement by Vicki Thomson to the Senate inquiry here: https://lnkd.in/dXZ9irhs https://lnkd.in/g9uDvVrM Guardian Australia Paul Karp Jason Clare MP #HigherEducation #internationaleducation #internationalstudents

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that UNSW economist Professor Richard Holden warns a dramatic drop in international student numbers could push Australia into recession. Professor Holden’s analysis showed a return to 2019 international student numbers would cause an $11.6 billion hit to Australia’s economy in 2025 alone, almost 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product. “That could easily be enough to tip Australia into an actual recession,” he said. “It’s not just the tuition fees that international students pay. They pay rent, they spend money on food and entertainment, and they travel. And that spending in the broader economy … that’s where a lot of businesses are really struggling at the moment.” https://lnkd.in/gxeDe3BJ Vicki Thomson The Group of Eight Attila Brungs UNSW Business School Jason Clare MP Jim Chalmers Daniella White #HigherEducation #internationalstudents #internationaleducation

On Radio 3AW Melbourne this morning, The Group of Eight CE Vicki Thomson told Tom Elliott, “The rationale for capping international student numbers chops and changes depending on what excuse the Government wants to use,” when asked about the pressures international students are said to have on rents and housing. “That’s a furphy from the Federal Government,” she said, explaining that international students take up just 4% of the rental market. University of Melbourne Monash University #HigherEducation #internationaleducation #internationalstudents

University of Melbourne Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Wesley has told Patricia Karvelas on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) RN Breakfast that the Government’s proposed caps on international students will cut about 30,000 students from the sector in Victoria, reducing the contribution of international education to the Victorian economy by around $6 billion over three years and cost around 12,000 jobs. “[T]he Government really needs to think about is whether this scale of cuts is going to tip the Australian economy into recession,” he said. https://lnkd.in/dPC2Pc7m The Group of Eight Vicki Thomson Professor Duncan Maskell #HigherEducation #internationalstudents #internationaleducation

The Group of Eight CE Vicki Thomson has told David Bevan on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio Adelaide that international education is South Australia’s largest export sector - worth more than $3 billion – which will be put at risk by arbitrary caps that are designed to deal with what the Government perceived as problems on the east coast, “Whatever the problems and challenges that may be happening in Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane are not the same challenges that are happening here in Adelaide or in Western Australia or other parts of the country,” she said. Peter Hoj AC Peter Malinauskas #HigherEducation #internationaleducation #internationalstudents

Julie Hare reports in The Australian Financial Review that in Canada, foreign student enrolments plunged below official caps in the six months after limits to international students were introduced, in a sign of what could happen in Australia as it moves towards similar measures. She notes that enrolments look set to fall short of the cap by around 20 per cent as students switch to other countries to study due to uncertainty about whether they will get a place or not. The Group of Eight CE Vicki Thomson told a Senate inquiry into the legislation that will allow international student caps in Australia that caps in 2025 will not be a reset – it will damage the sector for years to come – particularly in combination with the recent increase in visa application fees and the impact of Ministerial Direction 107. https://lnkd.in/gAJYRkTz Jason Clare MP Tony Burke International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) #HigherEducation #internationalstudents #internationaleducation