And that year is a vital one, because in 2019 before the Coronavirus struck, the 2018 numbers showed how important overseas students were to Australia.
“Of the 8.5 million international visitors reported by Tourism Australia, 576,575 stated their main purpose as education. This accounts for over 38 per cent of the total tourism spend in Australia,” the International Education Association of Australia told us ahead of the pandemic year of 2020.
And the Department of Education and Training had another take on the numbers, putting dollars to the story. It reported “that there were 693,750 international student visa holders in Australia in 2018, worth $34.9 billion in exports. And in 2018, a record 8.5 million tourist visitors spent $43.9 billion.
That tells me that education tourists are what we want, especially as the economy slows under rising interest rates.
The Australian today reports that “in August, the Home Affairs Department said there had been about 42,7000 student visa applications lodged in June, a surge beyond pre-pandemic levels…” and the banks and smart investors are lining up to throw their money at a company that provides accommodation for these important ‘exports’ called students!
That company is Scape, which builds and provides student accommodation. A recent funding round from heavy hitters and banks show that the smarties see this as a very promising sector.
“Scape is this week closing the refinancing of the Scape Student Accommodation Core Fund, which covers its existing buildings as well as three portfolios it picked up in recent years,” The Australian’s Ben Wilmot reported. “In a sign of how far sentiment has shifted, the near $1.5bn refinancing was more than 1.5 times oversubscribed, reflecting confidence among banks in a recovery.”
And look who was happy to stump up money — CBA and ANZ, as well as offshore banks such as UOB, SMBC, Bank of China, Mega ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, Taishin International Bank and Woori Bank.
Importantly, Wilmot pointed this out: “Notably, the strong level of international bank investment from China and Taiwan reflects confidence in the return of Chinese students to the local market.”
Our economy can sure do with that news!
And to understand what overseas students have done for a company such as Scape, think about this from the company’s managing director Stephen Gaitanos. He said 2023 would be a “business as usual year in the company’s stabilized portfolio of 33 buildings in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. It is also growing along Sydney’s Anzac Parade strip from Kensington to Kingsford near the University of NSW and has major projects in Melbourne at RMIT and the University of Melbourne.”
The export numbers for education tourists makes it more important than wool and wheat and sometimes even more than coal. Vladimir Putin has changed that recently, but the point about student exports is made even more important when you think of the building that will happen to house the students of tomorrow.
These wonderful exports, who also add to our workforce, could help save our economy, so be really nice to them!
