Professor James McWha, the vice-chancellor of the University of Adelaide said while current international enrolments remain steady or slightly up, if changes were not made, South Australia faced a significant downturn, according to a PIER Online article.
"We aren't talking about one, two are three per cent in falling numbers; we are talking a 10, 20, 30 per cent drop" he said.
The Federal Government announced in December 2010, a review of the student visa program, under the former politician, Michael Knight.
Denise von Wald, Education Adelaide chief executive said Australia is being "handicapped" by its own visa system. She said the US and Britain were processing visas within tow to 10 days, compared to four to 12 weeks in Australia. The cost to apply for a student visa for Australia is $550 while the cost of a student visa application for study in the US is four times less ($140).
Flinders University vice-chancellor said if Australia "didn't get its act together", we would lose strong links with Asian countries like China, Australia's largest education export market, to competitors overseas.
"We have an opportunity to reposition the Australian brand, in particular (in) major markets like China; but if we fail to do it in the next six months, we are looking at a very significant and long-term downturn", he said.
UniSA vice-chancellor said the universities were major employers in the city, with an expected combined revenue this year of at least $1.7 billion.
He said if that revenue were to drop, it would have "ripple effects" throughout the state's economy.
Source: PIER Online, AdelaideNow
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