Over-reliance on Chinese students a ‘multibillion-dollar gamble’ for Australian universities: report
- Many top universities have ‘extraordinary levels’ of exposure to the Chinese market, according to the Sydney-based Centre for Independent Studies
- Chinese students made up 11 per cent of all students in Australia in 2017, compared with 2 and 6 per cent in the US and Britain respectively, the report said
Many of the country’s top-ranked universities have “extraordinary levels” of exposure to the Chinese market, putting the taxpayer at risk in the event student numbers declined, according to the report by the Centre for Independent Studies, a right-leaning think tank in Sydney.
The report, authored by Salvatore Babones, found that seven “too big to fail” universities had far higher numbers of Chinese students than the international norm, relying on their fees for between 13 and 23 per cent of total revenues.
Chinese enrolments generated A$500 million (US$338 million), or one-fifth of revenue, at the University of Sydney alone in 2017.
“Australian governments are unlikely to stand by as their local universities go out of business,” said the report, which was published on August 20. “Thus, like the CEOs of the big banks in 2008, the vice chancellors of Australia’s big universities are, in effect, betting with other people’s money.”