WA poised for more international students

Higher promotional funding and a lift in the state’s share of new international students are encouraging signs.

A big increase in state government and university funding is expected to lift Western Australia’s profile in the international education market.

This month’s state budget included $4.5 million over three years towards implementing WA’s recently developed international education strategy, designed to reverse the long-term slide in the state’s share of international students.

The funding commitment anticipates a matching contribution from the international education sector, led by the universities.

This is on top of funding already provided to promotional and marketing agency StudyPerth – core funding of $1.3 million per year and strategic funding of $2 million over five years.

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Premier Mark McGowan said the government’s goal was to bring an additional 16,000 international students to WA, bringing the total international student enrolments in Perth to an estimated 88,000 by 2022. 

The government estimates this will boost state income by as much as $2.5 billion and generate about 15,500 jobs.

The new funding commitment comes at a time when WA’s share of international student enrolments has fallen to 5.9 per cent of the national total, down from 8.7 per cent in 2013.

To put these percentages in context, the number of international student enrolments in WA has grown in absolute terms, up 3.8 per cent over the past year to 34,504.

Within this total, higher education students make up the largest portion with 20,120, followed by vocational education and training (VET) with 8,639.

The problem for WA is that other states have grown faster, hence the fall in market share.

More encouraging data for WA is on international student commencements – they have jumped by 13.8 per cent over the past year to 13,483, lifting WA’s share to 8 per cent. 

The most recent data from StudyPerth shows India has overtaken China as the main source country.

Students from India have increased by 35.5 per cent in the past year, and Chinese students have grown by 12.9 per cent.

The number from the third largest source country, Malaysia, fell by 7.3 per cent.

StudyPerth recently announced two pushes to increase international student numbers, focusing on India and China.

It has partnered with global multi-lingual agency Digital Crew in a localised campaign encouraging Chinese students to study in Perth.

More than 4 million students will be targeted through the multi-channel Destination Perth campaign, including interaction with Chinese social media platforms, emphasising the Perth student experience and lifestyle.

The campaign garnered more than 1.5 million impressions within the first three days. 

Chief executive Phil Payne said the campaign was developed in response to findings from a report developed for StudyPerth last year by QS Enrolment Solutions.

“We had suspected for some time that awareness of Perth as a study destination could be better, and the findings from the report confirmed this suspicion: 78 per cent of prospective international students considering study in Australia say they know nothing, or very little about Perth,” Mr Payne said.

StudyPerth has additionally launched a mentoring program for Indian students in collaboration with the Australia India Business Council.

The AIBC Mentorship Program aims to improve employability outcomes by helping students identify and access relevant employment opportunities.

“We hope that by working together with AIBC to empower more of Perth’s Indian students to develop industry connections through mentorships, they will have an exceptional student experience in Perth and share their story through their networks in Perth and in India,” Mr Payne said.

StudyPerth will assist AIBC with the program by providing training to potential mentors, and promoting the program through social media to recruit Indian students as mentees.

Two recently opened accommodation centres – The Boulevard Northbridge, run by The Student Housing Company, and nearby Campus Perth – are expected to help boost international student numbers.

Campus Perth did not disclose current occupancy levels but said it had a great mix of international and domestic students.

China is its top source market, with 26 per cent of occupants, followed by Australia with 19 per cent and then France, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland.

The University of Western Australia vice chancellor Dawn Freshwater said international students provided a big economic boost.

“This includes tourism jobs, as students are visited by family and friends who want to check out how they live or see them graduate – often turning the trip into an extended holiday,” Ms Freshwater said.

“But it’s not just the contribution to our economy: foreign students internationalise the learning experience for domestic students.”

Professor Freshwater said the current funding model was a big driver for universities to recruit more international students.

“The competitive grant system the federal government uses to fund Australian research requires Australian universities to pay around a dollar from other sources for every dollar in grant income, and international student fees are one of the only practical ways for universities to raise this money.”

There is concern universities may be dropping their standards, including for English language proficiency, to boost student numbers, with Murdoch the subject of recent critical reports.

However, StudyPerth believes the incidence of such problems is isolated.

“StudyPerth is confident that the vast majority of the students arriving in WA are suitably qualified and well-prepared for study,” it said in a statement.

Murdoch has a low share of international students and has a targeted strategy to lift its ranking.

“We are strategically increasing the number of international students into all our courses from a wide range of countries, including Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and a number of African countries,” Murdoch vice chancellor Eeva Leinonen said.

Edith Cowan University acting vice chancellor Arshad Omari said its target for 2021 was for international students to make up a quarter of its total student cohort and to establish at least one offshore campus.

Professor Omari said engagement with international markets came in different forms.

“When we talk about international education, the focus is often on international students coming to Australia for a full degree,” he said.

“But another, equally significant part of this conversation is about student exchange and Study Abroad, typically involving a semester of study at an international university.”

One example was ECU’s relationship with Tokyo City University. Established in 2013, it is now the largest Japanese-Australian student mobility program, with 200 students studying in Perth each year.

Recently ECU has focused on attracting Study Abroad students from European markets such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany, generally for a semester.

ECU’s new advertising campaign, World Ready, has a focus on international education.

“It shows how international education is no longer an add-on to the core business of universities, but is now integral to everything we do,” professor Omari said. 

Curtin vice chancellor Deborah Terry agreed that international students made an important contribution to the state’s economy.

“The more we can do to encourage international students to choose Perth as a study destination, the better for the state from a cultural, social and economic point of view,” Professor Terry said.

“International student enrolments are also showing welcome signs of growth.

“We also welcomed the state government’s new Graduate Skilled Migration List announced last year and expect this to result in an increase in the number of international students choosing to study in WA over the next year and beyond.”