INTERNATIONAL student numbers fell by 30 per cent in the last financial year and it's possible the trend is continuing, a senior bureaucrat says.
Australia's $15 billion higher education industry has taken a serious hit following a series of much-publicised attacks on Indian students.
Austrade national education manager Quentin Stevenson-Perks says student visa applications have fallen by nearly a third.
"The best early indication would be with the grant data (for student visas) that the department for immigration deals with," he told a budget estimates hearing when quizzed about the slowdown.
"That would indicate a decline of the order of about 30 per cent for 2009/10 ... compared to 2008/09."
Mr Stevenson-Perks admitted that was a "significant reduction".
"(But) whether that continues into the future we're yet to see," he said.
The main reason for the decline was a drop in students from South Asia, "primarily India".
India was the second largest source of international students to Australia last year.
Monday's hearing in Canberra heard the decline in international student numbers wasn't solely due to factors within Australia's control.
Mr Stevenson-Perks said future numbers would be influenced by the strength of the Aussie dollar and competitors' behaviour.
For example, the United States was now a "far more aggressive" player in the market, he said.
The federal education department is crunching the numbers to determine how much the decline has cost Australia in raw dollar terms.
Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis last week warned Indian student enrolments at Australian universities were set to plunge by at least 80 per cent in the 2011 academic year.
Prof Davis warned higher education across the country was taking a massive hit following reports of attacks against students from the sub-continent.
Source:http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/number-of-indian-students-studying-in-australia-dropping/story-e6frf7l6-1225940343346
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