The numbers have spoken: Australia is now joining the likes of Canada and the United Kingdom as one of the most sought-after study destinations for international students. 

As revealed by a recent survey of over 14,000 international students from 147 countries, one in five students have changed their minds over the past 12 months about where they want to pursue their studies abroad. Among those who changed their minds, one out of three named Australia as their new top study destination. 

What’s behind the surge? 

Australia’s growing popularity among international students is a much-welcomed change of tide for the country’s international education sector, which has been through a rough patch since the onslaught of COVID-19.  Many international students were unable to study in Australia during the pandemic due to its closed borders and lockdown policies, but with the world’s official entrance into the post-pandemic era, combined with several improvements in the availability of opportunities for foreign students in Australia, more and more of them are seeing the country as a safe and attractive choice.

Here are five of the most popular reasons that have sparked Australia’s rise in popularity. 

• Better visa-processing — Common delays in visa-processing used to be a significant pain point for students who were considering studying in Australia, the Australian Government is now supporting its Department of Home Affairs to address these as an urgent priority. Since May of 2022, the Depapartment has employed nearly 140 new staff in visa processing roles. 

• Uncapped work hours — As a result of rising global inflation and cost of living, the ability to work while studying is a priority for a significant proportion of international students in 2022. Australia has removed the cap on the number of hours that international students can work until June of 2023; reflecting this, 36 percent of the students who switched their top countries to Australia cited better job opportunities as their reason. This improved work-study policy allows international students much better chances to earn enough money to live more comfortably during their stay abroad. 

• Lower currency — Also aligned with the growing concern for cost of living, the Australian dollar is low against the US dollar and several other currencies, making it a more affordable choice for most students.
• Safety — Australia has been consistently ranked as one of the safest countries in the world. The results of the survey echo this, with Australia deemed to be the safest country for international students, followed by New Zealand and Canada. 
• Opportunities for permanent residency — GSP’s Director for Australia and New Zealand, Matt Beazley, notes that the opportunities that come with living in regional Australia are also a key factor in Australia’s attractiveness to foreign students. Arguably the most popular among these opportunities is the improved pathways to permanent residency, with some certain courses. It should be noted that regional Australia also includes major cities like Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra, and the Gold Coast. 

This upsurge of interest in pursuing higher education in Australia is fantastic news for the country’s educators, whose challenge is now to rise to meet the growing demand for Australian education; and as the number of student applicants continues to soar, recruiters and institutions can expect the amount of paperwork to grow right along with it. 

Handling the paperwork can easily become one of the most time-consuming parts of the recruitment and admissions processes, but it’s also one of the most critical steps in a successful application. Without being tremendously well-organised, it can be easy to make blunders when dealing with huge volumes of paperwork, but GSP’s all-in-one technology platform empowers our partners to manage all pre-screening applications, conversions, and local recruitment with ease. With the power of tech, we’ve recast the traditional international student recruitment model into one that is more collaborative, more transparent, more comprehensive, and more intimate — all in pursuit of our mission to transform lives through education.

Looking for a more sustainable way to manage student recruitment? Experience a whole new world of simpler, faster, and more enjoyable application processes with GSP. To learn more about recruitment and study applications, reach out to our recruitment and business development experts. 

Our North American team has been hard at work this past month, travelling to different cities and building new connections to grow GSP’s network further. Here’s a quick update on what they’ve been up to recently. 

 NAFSA 2022  

Catherine Wilson, Pat Colabucci and and Kevin Morgan attended the NAFSA Regional Conferences in Sacramento, Albany, Charlotte, and Corpus Christi. NAFSA is the world’s biggest not-for-profit association dedicated to international education and exchange of which GSP is a proud and engaged NAFSA member. 

At these events, our North American team network with many people in the industry, including several institutions that are looking to grow their international student numbers. The team also met many students and young professionals who are interested to learn more about what the industry has to offer.  

To promote GSP at the events, the team handed out Tim Tams, a tasty milk chocolate-covered biscuit famous in Australia, where GSP is based. The team challenged fellow attendees to participate in the Tim Tam Slam—the signature Australian way of eating the biscuit: bite off opposite corners of the biscuit, use it as a straw to slurp up a hot beverage like coffee, hot chocolate or tea and, finally, pop the whole treat into your mouth in one go. It has been fun engaging with the conference participants, and at the same time, it also allowed us to show them another side of Australians we are quite fond of.  

After a big month connecting with the fantastic industry of recruiters and education providers around the US, the team looks forward to attending the annual AIRC event in Los Angeles next month. Meet Pat, Catherine, and Kevin at booth 72 and have a go at the Tim Tam Slam! 

Meeting with Westcliff University (WU) 

Pat Colabucci, GSP’s Director for North America, met with Westcliff University (WU) in Irvine, California last month.  The GSP–WU partnership is off to an excellent start as the university welcomes 14 students from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. WU has expressed appreciation for the team’s support in effectively advising the students before they arrived in the U.S. The WU admission staff were also very pleased to see students getting their F1 visas and bringing diversity to the classrooms. 

Located in one of the safest and most diverse cities in the U.S., WU is a private, award-winning university that offers plenty of exciting opportunities for scholarships, internships, and career services. The career and placement services for Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and Optional Practical Training (OPT), in particular, have long been one of the greatest of WU’s attractions for students. In 2021, WU was also recognised by Best Value Schools as having one of the top graduate marketing programs. 

WU has placed 85% of its graduates in jobs in 2021, and its 10:1 student-to-professor ratio ensures that every student gets the attention and support they need to complete their programs. With six start dates per year, various scholarship opportunities for international students, and several MBA STEM programs allowing a 3-year OPT, WU is poised for plenty of growth as a partner of GSP. 

The university has also just announced that it has been approved by SEVP to now issue I-20s for the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (BSCS), Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT), and Doctor in Education (EdD) programs! This exciting news brings more opportunities to students hoping to become a Westcliff student. 

The demand for US education remains unassailable around the world and is expected to keep rising, as  the end of the pandemic is in sight. In its annual report on Nonimigrant Visa Issuances by Visa Class and Nationality, the US Department of State revealed overwhelmingly positive student visa data, demonstrating soaring visa issued numbers supported by record-high approval rates. 

The report showed that almost 358,000 international student visas were issued in the 2021 fiscal year (October 2020 to September 2021), nearly tying with the pre-pandemic numbers from the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years. 

This is a huge comeback for US international education, given the drop in FY2020 caused by the COVID-19 situation, where visas issued totalled only 111,387. 

The demand for education in the United Kingdom has skyrocketed over the past few years, thanks to the United Kingdoms’s world-class infrastructure, globally recognised schools and opportunities for graduates. GSP’s Regional Manager in India, Nikita Gupta, who has been working in the international education industry for close to a decade now, can speak about this; based on her observations and experience, the UK is the ideal destination for students who are looking to study abroad to pursue a degree that is recognised internationally. Nikita was focused on Australia in the early stages of her career, but she has worked with education agencies and students keen to study in the UK. Nikita has gained heaps of insights into the UK as a destination for international students. In this article, Nikita answers some of the most important and frequently asked questions about assisting students with their application to a university in the UK.

The United Kingdom has always been one of the most coveted destinations for international students. Over the past two years, however, the UK has seen a significantly higher influx of students from India in particular. According to a report by India Today, about 165,000 Indians have acquired student visas for the UK over the past three years alone, and as many as 107,978 Indian students were issued study visas to the UK in the year ending March 2022. This marks a 93% increase from the previous period. 

Deciding to study abroad is an investment in every student’s future. A degree from a prestigious institution can improve a student’s options for employability and overall quality of life. However, finding one that fits a student’s budget and requirements can be exhaustive.

For education counsellors, it is disappointing to know that the students you are counselling have the academic aptitude and drive to get into a highly-regarded institution but may not have the financial capability to gain entry into one.

Luckily, most institutions offer scholarships and bursaries to help international students gain entry to a program or for the smart ones; it might even stretch to the whole duration of their program. The most common funding option available is a bursary that offers a tuition fee discount and may or may not have additional academic requirements on top of the standard entry requirements.

For students planning to study in the UK or European universities, here are some scholarship opportunities that you should let your students know about:

1. University of Dundee International Year Zero & International First Year Scholarships

International College Dundee (ICD) offers students an alternative way to begin their undergraduate or postgraduate studies at the University of Dundee. The IY1 is the equivalent of the second year of a four-year Scottish undergraduate degree. ICD delivers the first stage, and upon completion, the students will continue onto year three of their chosen degree with the University of Dundee.

• Computing – International Stage Two (IS2)

Start Date: September | January

Fees: £19,995

Scholarship: Up to £6,000

• Mechanical Engineering -International stage two (IS2)

Start Date: September | January

Fees: £19,995

Scholarship: Up to 50% of tuition fees

• International Stage 1 (IS1) Accelerated

Start date: January

Scholarship: Up to £4,000

• Business and Economics -International stage two (IS2)

Start date: September | January

Fees: £19,995

Scholarship: Up to £4,000

2. The University of Brighton PGCert, PGDip & PhD International scholarships

Scholarship: £3,500, £2,500 or £1,000

The University of Brighton offers the ‘University of Brighton International Scholarship ’to support international students and make a positive impact on their studies. Scholarships will be awarded at £3,500, £2,500 and £1,000 levels. The highest amount will be awarded to those applications the university assesses as meeting the scholarship criteria. These scholarships are awarded as a reduction in tuition fees for the first year of study.

Deadline: Monday 14 November at 11:59 pm GMT 2022

3. De Montfort University International College (DMUIC) – International Second Year (ISY) Business Scholarships

Start Date: 9 January 2023

Fee: £15,7951

Scholarship: £2,000 offer default and £2,000 additional scholarship after meeting conditions

The International Second Year (ISY) is equivalent to the second year level study of a three-year undergraduate degree. It supports international students who wish to complete their undergraduate studies at De Montfort University (DMU) by joining the third year of the Business Management degree. Upon successful completion of the ISY, the students shall continue to the final year of Business Management BA (Hons) at De Montfort University.

4. Wittenborg MBA Scholarship

Scholarship: €5,000

An excellent opportunity for international students to study a Master of Business Administration program(specialisation) through the Wittenborg University of Applied Science’s MBA Scholarship program.

The Stichting Debbie Foundation provides 10 Scholarships of €5,000 each for the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program in all specialisations annually. The scholarships cover a partial tuition fee waiver for the 1.5-year duration of the MBA program.

5. National College of Ireland – M.Sc. in Artificial Intelligence for Business

Scholarship: €2,000

The National College of Ireland is now offering an additional scholarship of 2000 euros to all students for M.Sc. in Artificial Intelligence for Business.

Applicants would need a minimum of 55% in either STEM (e.g. Information Management Systems, Information Technologies, Computer Science, Computer engineering) or Business (e.g., Business Information Systems, Business Administration, Economics) discipline and a minimum of three years of relevant work experience in the industry. Relevant experience in management would be an advantage.

The English language test requirement – Students will need a minimum of 6.5 overall with no band less than 6.0 for IELTS (Academic only). Students may also take other English language tests apart from IELTS.