Foreign students leaving Australia

Just a few months after arriving in Sydney for a planned two-year stay, university students Maggie Zhang and boyfriend Sunny Gu sat down to make a "pros and cons" list about life in Australia. The list was quickly unbalanced. On the positive side, staying to complete their master's program in commerce at the University of Sydney would keep the couple, who had met in Australia, together.

Weighing down the other side of the equation was a host of negatives, almost all spurred by the coronavirus pandemic. Their classes had moved online, making study harder and less interactive, many friends had already returned home and the relatively high cost of living in Sydney was biting.

"We really wanted to stay so it was a difficult decision to make," Zhang says as she packed for China late last month.

The pair are part of an exodus from Australia of international students, the bulk of whom are from China, that is worrying officials in a country which boasts education as its fourth biggest export.

With Australia already sliding into its worst recession in almost a century, education leaders expect the disappearance of international students to cost billions of dollars. Data on how many international students have left the country this year is not yet available, but anecdotal evidence on departures and data on new enrollments paints a worrying picture.

New enrollments of international students, who generally make up about 20 percent of all university students in Australia, grew by an average of 10 percent over the past two years. But growth in the first half of the year was negligible as Australia closed its borders in March to all foreigners because of the pandemic. New enrollments from China fell 8 percent in the past six months, compared with a gain of 4 percent across 2019, according to government data.

Further darkening the prospects for Australian universities, students going overseas were warned by the Chinese government to think carefully before choosing Australia, whose Prime Minister Scott Morrison in April told foreign students to go back to their home countries if they were unable to make ends meet during the pandemic, adding they weren't entitled to any welfare payments.

Zhang and Gu says that a key factor in their decision centered on isolation and its impact on their social life as well as studies. "It's a little bit frustrating (to) not participate in real-life classes," Zhang says. "You can't really talk with the professor or meet new friends. Of course, the tutorials are all online. It doesn't have a feeling of participation. It's not like school."

Shiyu Bao, who graduated from the University of Sydney in July with a degree in public relations, is looking for permanent work before her student visa expires this month.

"It's a race against time," says Bao at a cafe, who has a part-time job in a student organization. "A majority of my friends have gone back home but I really want to stay here. I have polished my resume and have applied for a few jobs but I've had no success so far."

Zhang and Gu plan to return to Australia next year for their final semester if face-to-face classes resume.

"Online classes have lost the real meaning of studying abroad," Gu says via WeChat from Guangzhou, Guangdong province, where he is in two-week quarantine with Zhang before she returns to her hometown of Wuhan, Hubei province. "I hope everything will be normal in 2021. My family and I are looking forward to coming back for my graduation ceremony."

Reuters