During his address at the Australian International Education Conference in Sydney last week, Australian Minister of Education Dan Tehan said there was enormous potential to grow international student numbers in regional Australia, saying doing so was “part of diversification” of the international education industry.
Mr Tehan suggested that regional Australia should play a greater part in the Australian international education story. “I want the international student who comes to Australia to have the opportunity to experience a different Australia – to live and study in our regions, to see the bush, to meet people from rural, regional and remote parts of the country and to build friendships.” he stated.
Mr Tehan urged the education industry to consider how to encourage international students to experience parts of Australia outside the popular metropolitan areas.
While population pressures and the infrastructure of the more popular cities have come under scrutiny from the coalition government, the assistant Minister for Universities Louise Pratt stated that it isn’t driven by International students, and added that ‘“International student populations in the city add a great deal of value to those communities; they grow the economy, they grow jobs,”