Is Australia’s response to the international student crisis similar to China’s?
“It is concerning that the grievances from China’s international students and Australia’s are strikingly similar”
China is the world’s largest country of origin international students, writes Angela Lehmann, head of research at The Lygon Group. In 2018, more than 662,100 Chinese students left China to pursue overseas studies. And Australia is one of the three leading destinations for these young people.
However, what is less discussed is that China is also a major destination country for international students and is currently the third largest receiver of students in the world, with almost 500,000 students studying there in 2018.
Like Australia, China closed its borders to international students in March 2020. Both countries now have large groups of international students wanting to return. And these groups are becoming increasingly vocal as their situations worsen.