Student saviour brings them back
THE bad news is that prior to the pandemic the Gold Coast played host to about 32,000 international students.
Now that figure sits at around 15,000. The good news? It’s on the up.
Study Gold Coast head of trade and partnerships Jennine Tax said: “We’re really confident that we can get back to those numbers because the demand is there.”
The hurdles now are housing them once here and smooth visa processing so they can stay.
“The challenge they have
now is accommodation. We all know there is a rental crisis on the Gold Coast and our locals are even struggling to find accommodation.
“Homestay is a great option for students but it doesn’t suit everyone. It’s not necessarily close to their institution or close to public transport options – that is a challenge and it’s something we are focusing on to try and problem solve.”
Ms Tax knows all about the challenges facing international students on the Gold Coast. She stepped up to become their de facto support in recent years during the Covid crisis, coordinating delivery of
37,000 frozen meals and grocery packs distributed to needy students cut off from support during Covid.
It earned her a finalist spot in last year’s Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year by Harvey Norman awards – she eventually jointly won the Champions of Education gong.
“It almost seems like a dream now that that was the demand and we just were able to flip and deliver that when it was needed.”
Now the focus is firmly on recovery of the foreign student market, with Ms Tax saying the message is clear the Gold Coast is ready to
SCAN THE CODE TO VOTE IN THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE CATEGORY welcome them back: “We are a preferred destination because of our lifestyle, post study work rights, the quality of education here.
“The pent up demand is huge, particularly from Brazil, our number one market, India is our number two, China, Colombia and Japan,” she said, adding another fiveplus markets are emerging growth markets: “There’s no concern around ‘are we open for business?’. We’re absolutely open and everyone knows that, especially the education agents, they’re all supportive of us as well.” PORTIA LARGE IS CONTRACTED TO FOR WOMEN OF THE YEAR CONTENT