South Asian students go elsewhere as visa grants slow to trickle

Visa applications from some of Australia’s key overseas education markets are drying up, and visa grants to some nationalities have all but stopped as crackdowns on non-genuine students coincide with an anti-immigration policy push.

Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal are fading away as sources of higher education students, the latest statistics from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) suggest. India is in major decline while students from the top African source countries – Kenya and Nigeria – stand little chance of gaining admittance to Australia.

The data, published on the eve of the Australian International Education Conference in Sydney, suggest that students’ willingness to consider Australia is wilting as quickly as Australia’s willingness to accept them. September visa applications from higher education students outside Australia were 43 per cent lower than in September last year, reflecting a 42 per cent slump in visa issuances.

The International Education Association of Australia, co-hosts of the conference, said the industry had become accustomed to the “roller coaster ride” of governments “turning the visa approval tap on and off” to suit the politics of the time. “But this current policy regime is the…most restrictive I’ve ever seen in more than 20 years,” said chief executive Phil Honeywood.

The decline in visa grants has been most pronounced in South Asian countries targeted in recent compliance campaigns. In India, 190 higher education applicants received visas this September compared with 1,422 in September last year.

Over the same time frame, issuances plunged from 1,074 to 87 in Nepal, 730 to 14 in Bangladesh and 82 to nine in Bhutan.

Refusal rates have soared from less than 10 per cent last year to 78 per cent for Bangladesh and 83 per cent for Nepal. Rejection rates for applicants from Kenya and Nigeria, which likewise were below 10 per cent this time last year, have risen to almost 80 per cent.

Honeywood said genuine students were being punished “for no fault of their own” in a clear case of policy “overkill”. Most were now “voting with their feet and applying to at least another 10 countries who’ve…kept the welcome mat out compared to Australia,” he said.

“The government just thinks that when they turn the tap back on, these young people will come back. They’ve got other choices now, and many of those choices are…closer to home. Why would you pay the world’s highest student visa rate for a lottery ticket to see if you can come to Australia, when others are far more accommodating and far cheaper?”

The figures underscore the difficulty Australian universities face in diversifying international enrolments away from the dominant source market – China – which continues to experience visa grant rates well over 90 per cent.

However, demand from China is also depressed. September visa applications from higher education students in the country were 24 per cent lower than in September last year.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com