GSQT – Tens of thousands of students have delayed their “dream of studying in Australia” for nearly 2 years because they have not been able to enter the country. Covid-19 epidemic has had a severe impact on the education industry and affected the futures of many desperate international students.

Sovia Gill, an international student from India, is delighted to hear that Australia will open its borders in November. However, she was soon disappointed to learn that the new rules prioritized Australian citizens and permanent residents.

“It’s really heartbreaking,” Sovia Gill said. Gill is currently studying for a master’s degree in Engineering at the University of South Queensland and she has been studying online since February last year. “Next will be an announcement that students will have to wait until next year before they can return to school. That’s the chorus we’ve had to listen to over and over again for the past two years. I seem to have lost all hope,” Gill shared.

After more than 20 months of paying full tuition and still not being able to attend school, the 23-year-old girl from Gobindpur village, Kapurthala district feels “as if cheated” and “lost confidence in the school’s arrangements”. “Many of my friends got visas after me, but now they are in Canada, UK, France or US. I feel betrayed,” Gill said disappointedly.

Sovia Gill is just one of tens of thousands of desperate international students waiting to return to Australia. They had to study online for a very long time. Under the plan to ease border controls, the Australian government said international students are only allowed to enter in very limited numbers.

For example, the state of New South Wales is expected to bring about 500 students back to study on flights that take place before Christmas. Victoria and South Australia have also submitted similar plans, while Queensland and Western Australia have yet to act.

In an effort to address obstacles to the return of Chinese and Indian students, Australia has announced its acceptance of two vaccines, Sinovac and AstraZeneca. These two countries account for about half of all international students in Australia.

Australia’s international education sector has been severely impacted by the pandemic. Revenue in the past 1 year has dropped to 19.6 billion from 29.3 billion in 2019.

Nearly 550,000 international students are enrolled in Australia in 2020-2021, down sharply from 750,000 before the pandemic hit. After China and India, students from Nepal, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brazil, and South Korea account for the highest percentage of enrollment in Australia.

Ms. Catriona Jackson, CEO of top universities in Australia, said she sympathizes with the plight of international students.

“This is a difficult situation. However, there are already a lot of desperate international students starting to get used to learning online. Before the pandemic, we attracted students from over 140 different countries. The appeal of Australian education remains strong thanks to the quality of the training and the experience here,” said Ms. Jackson.