While expressing regret at their decision to study in Australia, some dozen of Chinese students in Australia collectively suggested Chinese applicants eye for other destinations, telling them it’s better they not come to the country this year or the next considering various factors including Australian restrictions on visas and travel and the anti-China vibes amid the escalating COVID-19 pandemic.
Many of the Chinese students in Australia also are packing their luggage to leave the country as Daily Mail cited new data on Tuesday that Australia's dwindling number of foreign students are leaving the country in droves with Chinese students leading the pack.
The report said, in December 2020, almost a quarter of all overseas departures from Australia were students on temporary visas leaving the country, new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show.
Many students have not been able to come back to Australia since the nation severely restricted inward travel on March 20.
Almost a fifth of all departures, 18.7%, were Chinese with 9,300 travelling out of the country, said the report.
The international education sector is shrinking due of prolonged travel bans launched in 2020, before which the sector had experienced five years of double-digit growth in Australia.
Some of the students explained why they decided to leave Australia and why they suggested applicants who plan to study overseas not go to Australia.
Not only because of the travel restrictions and anti-China vibes, but also due to the less competiveness and value of Australian schools in China in recent years, the dozen students don’t suggest applicants study in Australia.
Given a spike in racial discrimination against Chinese people amid the COVID-19 pandemic, China issued a travel and study alert to Australia in 2020, which could also exert disadvantageous influence over the value of the Australian academic degree when the students hunt for jobs in China after graduation, they said.
The worsening bilateral ties should also discourage applicants to choose Australian schools, the students said.
From the politicized calls for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 and claims earlier this year that Chinese spies have penetrated Australian communities and universities, to the recent interference in China's Hong Kong affairs, a joint defense pact with Japan targeting China, and Australian prime minister's tough denial that Australia acted at the behest of the US in crafting its foreign policy, which poisoned bilateral relations, Australia's erroneous China policy has continuously worsened bilateral ties.
Some students encouraged the applicants to switch to Europe, Singapore, Japan, China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) or the Macao SAR for their further studies.