Earlier today, AECC released its student insights for April 2024. Not surprisingly, changing destination data figures prominently in the report.
AECC provides independent and certified student counselling services and university application support to tens of thousands of students around the world each year. It partners with over 950 institutions globally and has a network of 55 offices in 16 countries.
About the report
The report is based on survey data collected in March 2024 from prospective international students who have recently engaged with AECC. In a landscape where student decision-making is increasingly influenced by public policy changes, economic and environmental factors, AECC are pleased to share insights from 8,312 respondents hailing from 124 countries around the world. It’s important to note that this survey was not widely distributed in China.
Jake Foster, Chief Commercial Officer at AECC, said when speaking with the Koala about Australia’s focus in the report, a number of key elements stood out. “Australia’s reputation as a desirable destination for international students is something we should take pride in.”
“While there might be a spotlight on the sector, it is exciting to see there is ongoing development of purpose-built student accommodation to accommodate the increasing number of international students in Australia.”
On recent student visa processing delays seen earlier this year Mr Foster noted, “No one wants to see students stuck in a state of uncertainty due to unclear requirements for international student visas in Australia. I’m sure Australia can do better for upcoming intakes and give international students clearer guidelines and the clarity they deserve.” He said.
Two major insights stemming from the report include:
Length of stay, post-study work and migration
Interestingly, 55.65 per cent of respondents indicated that they sought to seek work or further study and then return home, 15.89 per cent of respondents intended to return home immediately after completing studies, and 28.46 per cent of respondents indicated they would like to explore migration opportunities. This underscores what the sector already knows: the vast majority of students do not seek migration or longer-term stays after completing their studies.
However, working on the completion of study is an important element of decision-making. 78.93 per cent of respondents stated it is extremely important, 19.01 per cent of respondents stated it is moderately important, and only 2.06 per cent of respondents stated it was not of importance.
Changing destination
In March of 2024 15.53 percent or 1,280 respondents indicated they changed their student destination preference. Coincidentally this is down from 22.4 per cent in November 2022 and 21.1 per cent in October of 2021, which could be attributed to post COVID related settings.
In this survey, increases are being seen by New Zealand (86.36 per cent), Germany (36.23 per cent), and the USA (13.39 per cent). Destinations seeing a decrease in study preference include Canada (32.05 per cent), the UK (15.89 per cent), and Australia (9.44 per cent). It should be noted that these markets have lower overall volumes, so increases based on prospective international student preference changes will be proportionately lower.
Major reasons for changing study destination preferences are both push and pull and include high cost (24.2 per cent), better job opportunities (18.97), negative policy changes (13.9 per cent), concern about slow visa processing times (12.3 per cent).
The AECC insights document in its entirety is available here.
