With the arrival of new students in 2022, Indians will become the largest group of foreign students in Australia, as admissions from China decline due to deteriorating relations between the two countries.
As of July 2022, Australia had 96,000 Indian students, making it the second largest group of foreign students after China.
“But the number of students starting from India is growing very rapidly, and we expect this to be the largest group from anywhere in the world,” Monica Kennedy, Ostrade’s Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, said in an interview. Hindu,
Although the number of new students arriving from India between July 2022 and June 2023, the Australian fiscal year, is marginally lower than the 45,000 seen in 2019, their size relative to new arrivals from China has seen an increase.
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China is the largest source of international students, and India is the second largest source for major higher education destinations such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. However, India’s share is half or less than that of China.
Between January 2021 and December 2021, Australia received a total of 5,70,626 foreign students. According to the Australian government, despite a drop in student numbers post-COVID-19 compared to 2020, China contributed 1.70 lakh or 30% of all foreign students in Australia, and India contributed 97,000 or 17%. According to information gathered by the Department of Education.
In the US too, 3,17,299 Chinese students comprised 34.6% of the total foreign students in the academic year 2020-2021, while Indians were the second largest group with 1.67 lakh or 18.3%, according to the US government-funded Open Door report.
Chinese students were 32% of the total foreign students in the UK, up from 1,43,820 in 2021. India was the second non-EU country to send 84,555 students to the UK, or about 9.2% of the total foreign students in the UK, according to a website study in the UK.
Lack of enthusiasm
However, there is a lack of enthusiasm among Chinese students not only in Australia but also in the United States. According to a new report released last month by the Center for China and Globalization, a leading Chinese non-governmental think tank based in Beijing, as China-US relations deteriorated, the number of Chinese students in both the US and Australia decreased. Due to a friendlier study environment and visa policies, more Chinese students can move to countries in Europe and Asia due to trade and geopolitical disputes between China and Australia.
According to the report, the 2020-2021 academic year saw the first decline in the number of Chinese students in the US in 10 years, falling by 14.6% from 2019-2020. The number of Chinese students in Australia declined for two years, with a drop of 11.9% in 2021 and 9.9% in 2020.
India has also overtaken China as the largest nationality to issue sponsored study visas in the UK, with around 1,18,000 Indian students receiving student visas in the year ended June 2022 – a 215% increase from 2019. The sponsored was issued to about 1.15 lakh Chinese students. Study visas in the same period, which is 4% less than in 2019.
“Of late Chinese students are not leaving home [to study abroad. So the number of Indians is increasing. This is supported by the growing aspirations as well as the paying capacity of Indian students. At Deakin University, our focus has always been on India, followed by China and then the rest of the world. While most other universities in
Australia have so far focused on Chinese students, that will change now,” says Ravneet Pawa, Vice President (Global Alliance) and CEO (South Asia), Deakin University, National Vice President, Australia India Business Council.
