Over 100,000 Chinese international students who are enrolled in Australian universities have completed their degrees without stepping foot into Australia, due to being blocked from entering the country for the last 18 months due to the pandemic.
This comes after a huge travel ban imposed on China in February of 2020, and unfortunately, international students were included as part of that ban. The Australian tertiary education sector has definitely been affected by this ban.
Not being able to complete their studies in Australia, many Chinese students felt like they were not able to “complete their experience”, according to ABC News who interviewed some Chinese international students caught in this situation.
“International students like Ms Wang and Mr Zhao said learning from a textbook was just a small part of learning – missing out on being immersed in the Australian culture and making Australian friends made them emotional.”
“”There is no denying that our experience is compromised, and college life feels somewhat incomplete,” Ms Wang said.”
“But what also can’t be denied is that the universities have put in effort to provide students with educational resources and supports as best they can.”
These travel bans on China and on India will definitely hurt the Australian economy considering both adult and tertiary education sectors have a heavy reliance on the 2 nations. Unless policies change, then the tertiary education system will continue to suffer, considering it has a heavy reliance on the Chinese market.
Images via ABC News
To read the original article, please click on: Chinese students graduate from Australian universities, but some have never set foot on campus due to COVID