Research pick: Australian international education - "A critical review of Australia’s China-dominant education supply chain"

In 2019, international education in Australia generated more than 40 billion Australian dollars. Just under a third of that came from students from China. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw Australia close its doors to international visitors essentially halted that revenue stream for the country. Although there is a notion that we are nearing a post-pandemic world, ongoing geopolitical tensions between Australia and China may well somewhat thwart efforts at recovery in the international education sector.

Writing in the International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, Mamta B. Chowdhury of the School of Business (Economics, Finance and Property) at Western Sydney University in Penrith, New South Wales has examined just how much dependency there has been on student visitors from China and how those geopolitical tensions and the effects of the pandemic might affect the future. She makes policy recommendations that emphasise greater diversification of the education sector and improvements in its supply chain management.

Chowdhury points out that since increasing globalization in the middle of the 1980s, there has been increasing attention in research to international education as international student numbers rose. The quality of education and opportunities that developed nations can offer students from developing nations have brought many millions of students to those countries. While in education, they, of course, boost the host nation’s economy, and on returning to their home country, their new skills and experience help bolster growth and development there. It is, in the modern vernacular, a win-win situation. Australia has been at the forefront of attracting international students and has benefited significantly from that increased diversity in higher education as well as reaping the financial rewards.

Indeed, there had been double-digit growth in international student numbers in Australia since around 2014. International education was Australia’s third biggest “export” after iron ore and coal, in 2018. In December 2019, just as the novel coronavirus, later known as SARS-CoV-2 and the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were almost a million international students enrolled to study in Australia. The numbers fell significantly with the pandemic so that in 2020, there were almost 10 per cent fewer students than in December 2019. 28% of those students originated from China, India (17%), Nepal (8%), Vietnam (4%), and Brazil (3%) across all educational disciplines.

The shocks of a pandemic or geopolitical tensions should serve as a warning, however, to the Australian system that reliance on a particular market within the sector could stifle growth. There is a need for greater diversity and for policymakers to manage the supply chain to help increase growth.

“Designing and implementing forward-looking approaches in diversifying the market in a timely fashion and appropriate intertwined education, employment and immigration policies might facilitate the transfer of valuable foreign exchange earnings into the education sector,” writes Chowdhury. Ultimately, this will in turn improve trade and alliances, as well as strategic and diplomatic relationships between Australia and those countries that enjoy the benefits of its education system.

Chowdhury, M.B. (2022) ‘A critical review of Australia’s China-dominant education supply chain’, Int. J. Agile Systems and Management, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp.147–166.