2020 is drawing to a close. It has been a brutal year for international education people, and students. But it has also been a year in which the international education sector in Australia demonstrated its resilience, once again.
We’ve been with you this year as you’ve innovated, persisted, turned up, supported students and prospects, worked from home, and found new ways of getting through each day.
Tough as 2020 has been, international education has won important new allies in our communities and right across the economy. This is something to celebrate: it’s worth remembering that it wasn’t so very long ago – just cast your minds back to the beginning of 2019 – that international education was being blamed for clogging up our cities and our public transport.
Like you, in 2020 we’ve remained hopeful about the future of international education in Australia and around the world.
2021 will be different. For international students - current and prospective - it will be a year of choices and recovery. For some it will mean future study plans can start, for others it will mean rebuilding after a year of distance, isolation, and online study.
For international education people it will be a year of hope, energy, optimism and some frustration that everything is taking so long to get back to normal. You’ll be working hard to welcome international students back, while supporting the students who have been impacted by the pandemic. It will be another year of innovation as providers explore new delivery modes, new ways of supporting students, and new ways of doing the business of international education.
It will be a year of intense competition: everyone is eager to welcome international students back. We know how competitive the UK and Canada are. The USA will be back in the game: the impact of November’s election shifted sentiment towards the US overnight, and when the Biden-Harris administration gets through the myriad challenges of the first 100 days we can expect America to strongly signal that international education is open for business once again.
And, of course, Australia will signal that it is re-opening to international students. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us to get us back into a competitive position. But as we’ve all shown in 2020, we’re up for hard work.
We’re taking a break from newslettering over the summer. The next edition of The Source will be in your in-boxes in February.
For our southern hemisphere readers, have a great summer and stay safe and well, and for our northern hemisphere readers, please get through this winter safe and well. See you all in 2021. Possibly even at an international education conference - let’s hope that’s not too much wishful thinking.