High Australian dollar, visa rules push foreign students to Canada

FOREIGN students are turning away from Australia and flocking to Canada as uncertainty intensifies over visa regulations and the high Australian dollar. 

"Canada is inundated by international students and numbers are getting out of control," said Rod Jones, chief executive of education provider Navitas."Canada is benefiting from students who are turning away from Australia and the UK because of government changes in visa policy for foreign students.

"We are also seeing a pull-back of overseas students from China and Vietnam, who are not coming to Australia."
Enrolment fell 14 per cent in Navitas colleges in Australia during the last June/July semester, while numbers decreased 16 per cent in Britain.Mr Jones saihttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8518259646624533808d the pull-back was driven by uncertainty over government policy, which is "making it harder for students to study in Australia".

The high Australian dollar has also not helped.Mr Jones made the comments as the company reported a 20 per cent rise in after-tax net profit to $77.4 million.Navitas also reported a 25 per cent lift in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to $121.1m.Group revenue was up 16 per cent to $643.8m.
Navitas shares fell 7 cents to $3.78 in early trading at the sharemarket.

The Perth-based Navitas has a total enrolment of 14,600 students, of which 9700 are in Australia, 1400 in Canada and the US, 1250 in the UK and 2200 in Asia.

Source:http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/high-australian-dollar-visa-rules-push-foreign-students-to-canada/story-e6frg8zx-1226106795248