Three reasons for not letting foreign students fly in
I’m a former international student, so I definitely see the value of studying abroad. But recent lobbying by our cash-strapped universities to allow foreign students to fly in over the coming weeks is, to me, quite unacceptable. I just hope our politicians agree with me.
Australian universities have become extremely reliant on international students as can be seen by the data collected by Salvatore Babones, a professor at University of Sydney. Across the top eight universities in Australia in 2018, international students accounted for 37 per cent of all students, which is quite an astonishing number to me.
Universities generate revenue from a multitude of sources including student fees, government grants and revenue generated from industry collaboration, but student fees are by far the most important source. International students pay a much higher fee than domestic students and are therefore a significant source of revenue and make up 31 per cent of the total revenues of the top eight universities in total:
This has also resulted in Australia having by far the largest proportional density of international students in the world:
It is therefore no surprise that universities are currently in a panic as current travel bans mean that international students cannot travel and start their studies, which leads to a loss of income for the universities.
We can see this desperation in the frantic lobbying undertaken to get politicians to agree to even consider to go ahead with plans to fly in international students over the coming weeks and quarantine them for 14 days with the hotel quarantine being paid for by the universities.
I consider this an absolutely abhorrent plan for a number of reasons:
- The second outbreak of COVID in Victoria has been traced back to travellers coming into Australia and escaping quarantine. There is no way to completely guarantee that there will not be any quarantine breaches and hence this is an unnecessary risk to take.
- There are about 18,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents stuck abroad wanting to come home and not able to do so due to the cap on the number of arrivals currently in-place. Allowing international students to “jump the queue” indicates that politicians prioritise foreigners above citizens, which invalidates the fundamental concept of a nation state whose primary priority should be to look after its citizens first and foremost.
- Australian citizens and permanent residents currently arriving from abroad have to pay the full cost of the mandatory hotel quarantine themselves to the tune of $3,500. International students getting the cost of the quarantine paid for is inequitable.
It is clear that Australian universities are extremely dependent on the international student revenue steam but we cannot allow that to jeopardise the health and safety of the Australian population and we can especially not prioritise international students over Australian citizens and permanent residents.
If universities need to save money, there is a lot they can do; one of the first things to look at would be the cost of their leadership. Vice chancellors of universities have had probably the best salary development of any occupation over the last 10-15 years and all the leaders of the universities mentioned in this article earned $1.0 million or above in 2019…
This post was contributed by a representative of Montgomery Investment Management Pty Limited (AFSL No. 354564). The principal purpose of this post is to provide factual information and not provide financial product advice. Additionally, the information provided is not intended to provide any recommendation or opinion about any financial product. Any commentary and statements of opinion however may contain general advice only that is prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial circumstances or needs. Because of this, before acting on any of the information provided, you should always consider its appropriateness in light of your personal objectives, financial circumstances and needs and should consider seeking independent advice from a financial advisor if necessary before making any decisions. This post specifically excludes personal advice.
INVEST WITH MONTGOMERY
Fred
:
The knowledge international students gain has been developed ( and still continuously being developed) through decades of hard work. That knowledge all sets you up for a better life, it helps your families and your entire countries.
What you pay for all this is nothing compared to the benefits you get. Hopefully one day you are charged the fair price so that we who develop & impart the knowledge are not ripped off. It’s ok that you constantly complain to keep the price down…. hopefully this will change.
Carlos Cobelas
:
hear, hear !
Chris
:
Couldn’t agree more ! Go around any university and there is ALWAYS some sort of major construction work going on, they’re forever building something, somewhere. Where does all this money come from ?! It’s not from research grants, because they are specific to a project. It’s from the fees that international students pay for the SAME qualification. If people want to get upset about something, try the inequality in that, it’s been going on for at least 20 years.
And as a former international student myself, how on earth do they expect them to pay the airfare to get back here ? AFR Weekend of 29/30 August said that the only people who were getting in were those who were stumping up for a business class ticket (which is going for 2x what it normally is from the Middle East for any European students) – which international student can afford that ? (Answer – the rich Mainland Chinese ones, I doubt it would be anyone else !)