It is expected that the Australian Universities could experience a decrease in their international enrolments by almost 10%.
“If the drop in enquires during the last quarter continues, then the drop in enrolments in second semester for 2010 could be double-digit,” says Asia-Pacific Hobson’s Managing Director David Harrington. Harrington’s company represents 14 universities, including three leading research-based Group of Eight universities.
Earlier, another largest recruiter, IDP, also anticipated drop in Indian students enrolments. Chief executive Tony Pollock mentioned that he was worried about enrolment numbers from India being “quite soft”.
“We are looking at modest growth next year across portfolios. Higher education will be up and vocational education will be up, but we will see a lot less students from India,” Pollock added. He said most affected would be all the “single-purpose colleges” which were cashing on permanent residency driven student visa. “It will be a very tough period for them because most of their students are drawn from India. It will be a bleak winter for them,” he added.
