Coast loses $1b in foreign student slump
Lucy Ardern | January 30th, 2012
THE Gold Coast has missed out on $1 billion from the education sector since 2006, according to a report that shows a 7785 shortfall in the number of foreign students on the Gold Coast.
The figures were included in a document put together by Study Gold Coast.
The group's chairman, Nick Bottrall, is planning to use them to convince the Gold Coast City Council to pump up the funds used to market the crucial sector.
The Gold Coast's share of international students coming to Australia has dropped since 2006, when it was a regional leader and claimed 4 per cent of the education market.
Each international student is worth $30,000 a year to the city and it is estimated the decline has cost the Coast $200 million a year for five years.
Research shows that at best, Gold Coast international student numbers have been flat since 2006, while nationally enrolments increased by 47 per cent.
Mr Bottrall said the group was pushing to have $4.5 million injected into the marketing of the Gold Coast education sector in the next three years.
"We missed out on a large number of students that we could have attracted in that time," he said.
"We believe if that money is put back into the sector, it would be paid back several times quite quickly."
Mr Bottrall said cities such as Perth and Adelaide had worked hard to increase their market share while the Coast had stood still.
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"Glen Crawford> has 'nailed' it again we all know who the 'Educator' is and he is pulling out of his Gold Coast holdings and that - is part of the reason"
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He said a number of factors had affected student numbers, including cuts by the Gold Coast City Council to promotional spending for the education sector and divisions between local education providers.
"Everyone was off doing their own thing," he said.
"Now we are back on track and unified.
"The infrastructure is already there this time and all we need to do is work hard to fill up the schools, universities and colleges."
More recently, the high Australian dollar, along with the Federal Government's changes to student visa rules and the backlash from attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, affected the education sector.
Study Gold Coast has set a goal of increasing the city's market share of international student enrolments by 0.5 per cent over the next three years.
Based on the 2011 national enrolment numbers, this would see an extra 3000 students heading to the Gold Coast to study by 2015 and 2016 and an extra $90 million a year pumped into the economy.
Southport Councillor Dawn Crichlow admitted the council had "not done enough to support the education sector".
"We have to get out there and back the education providers if we are going to compete with the rest of the world," she said.
But Cr Crichlow said she did not support increasing funding and instead wanted to talk to Study Gold Coast about other options.
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