There is a conversation happening in Nepali homes that Australia should pay attention to.
It is not about which university has the highest ranking or which city offers the best lifestyle. It is a much more personal question: is Australia still the right place to send our children?
I am a Nepali citizen living in Kathmandu. For more than a decade, I have worked in international education, representing Australian education providers and working closely with students, parents and education agents across South Asia.
I have spent much of my professional life explaining the opportunities an Australian education can offer. I have seen young people leave Nepal with enormous ambitions, and I have watched families celebrate their graduation photographs years later.
I still believe in the value of Australian education. But I am also seeing a change in how Nepali families think about it.
How Australia became part of the Nepali dream
Twenty years ago, studying in Australia was a distant ambition for many Nepali families. Information was limited, the costs were daunting and relatively few people had relatives or friends living there.
Over time, that changed.
Students who had gone to Australia began sharing their experiences. Some returned to Nepal with qualifications and international experience. Others found jobs, built businesses, established families and became part of Australia’s growing Nepali community.
Their stories travelled home.
A neighbour’s son graduating in Sydney would inspire another family. A relative working in Melbourne would encourage a younger cousin to consider studying there. Parents who had never travelled overseas began discussing Australian universities, tuition fees and student visas.
Australia became more than a study destination. It became part of the Nepali middle-class dream.
And behind that dream was often an extraordinary family sacrifice.
Parents saved for years. Some borrowed money or used family property to finance their children’s education. Others postponed their own plans because they believed their children might have opportunities they never had.
For many families, sending a child to Australia was not simply an education decision. It was an investment in the future of the entire family.
When a family begins to question the dream
Consider an illustrative situation that reflects the difficult choices Nepali families can face.
A father has spent years hoping to send his son to Australia. His relatives live in Sydney, and he has watched friends’ children graduate, find employment and establish themselves there.
He has imagined his son following a similar path.
The family has saved money, discussed university options and prepared for English language tests. Australia has been part of their plans for so long that they have barely considered another destination.
Then the questions become harder.
What if the visa is refused? What if living costs are higher than expected? What happens if the rules change after the student arrives? Can the family afford the full course without depending on the son’s part-time earnings?
These are not unreasonable questions. They are the questions of parents who understand how much is at stake.
The father still believes Australia offers a good education. But he begins wondering whether the financial risk is greater than the family can comfortably manage.
His son starts researching universities in the United Kingdom and Europe.
The family has not abandoned its ambition to provide him with an international education. It is reconsidering where that ambition might best be realised.
This is an illustrative story, not an account of an identified family. The underlying dilemma is familiar in international education: even families with strong personal connections to Australia are more willing to compare alternatives.
That shift deserves attention.
Nepali students have contributed more than tuition fees
Australia has benefited from its education relationship with Nepal.
Nepali students have paid tuition fees, rented accommodation, supported local businesses and worked within their visa conditions across industries including hospitality, retail and care services.
Many former students have become nurses, accountants, IT professionals, business owners and skilled workers. Others have built families and contributed to Australia’s multicultural communities.
The Nepali community is now an established presence in Australian society, particularly in Sydney and other major cities.
Its contribution is visible in businesses, workplaces, cultural festivals, community organisations and everyday Australian life.
There are legitimate concerns about housing, infrastructure and the pace of migration. Australia has every right to manage these pressures.
But international students should not be discussed only as numbers to be reduced or economic activity to be measured.
They are also people who have developed lasting connections with Australia. For many Nepali families, those connections now extend across generations.
The questions in Kathmandu are changing
When I began working in this sector, many students wanted to know about tuition fees, scholarships, universities and part-time employment.
Those questions remain important, but conversations today are often more cautious.
Parents want to understand visa refusal risks, changing government requirements, living costs and what might happen if their child’s circumstances change after arriving in Australia.
Students are also paying closer attention to the experiences of friends and relatives already overseas.
A policy announcement in Canberra can reach Kathmandu within minutes. A student’s difficult experience in Melbourne may influence relatives in Pokhara or Chitwan. A successful graduate in another country may encourage an entire group of friends to explore that destination.
Social media and family networks now shape international education decisions as much as university marketing.
This does not mean Nepali students have stopped wanting to study in Australia. It means they are asking more questions before making a commitment that may affect their families for years.
Australia is no longer the automatic choice
Australia remains attractive because of its universities, established Nepali community, international qualifications and professional opportunities.
But students are increasingly considering the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and European countries.
Germany and other European destinations attract interest because of different tuition structures and academic opportunities. The United States appeals to students interested in particular universities, research and professional pathways. The UK and Canada remain familiar alternatives, despite facing immigration and education policy challenges of their own.
No country offers a perfect solution.
Students still need to consider academic quality, affordability, visa requirements, employment restrictions and their long-term goals.
What has changed is the willingness to compare.
In the past, many students decided they wanted to study in Australia and then worked out how to get there. Today, more families are asking which country makes the most sense before deciding where to apply.
That is a significant change in mindset.
The education industry must also be honest
As someone who has spent much of his career promoting Australian education, I recognise that our industry has responsibilities too.
Education providers, recruitment representatives and agents should not encourage students to make decisions based on unrealistic promises of employment, permanent residency or financial returns.
Families deserve honest information about tuition fees, living expenses, academic expectations, student visa conditions and the uncertainty of post-study opportunities.
Part-time work should never be presented as a guaranteed way to finance an entire education.
I support stronger academic standards, genuine student requirements and appropriate action against poor recruitment practices.
Australia needs to protect the integrity of its international education system. But stronger standards should also be accompanied by clear communication and predictable processes.
A student who begins preparing for an Australian education today may not arrive for another year. Their course may take three or four years to complete. For families making such a long-term commitment, uncertainty can be just as important as cost.
What Australia should understand
Australia’s international education debate is understandably shaped by domestic concerns about migration, housing, education quality and economic conditions.
Those issues deserve serious attention.
But decisions made in Canberra are also interpreted in Kathmandu, where families are deciding whether to commit years of savings to an Australian education.
A policy intended to manage migration may also influence how prospective students perceive Australia’s reliability as a study destination.
That does not mean Australia should abandon necessary reforms or guarantee migration outcomes.
It means policymakers should recognise that the reputation of Australian education extends well beyond Australia’s borders.
It is built through the experiences of students, the confidence of parents and the stories graduates share when they return home or speak with relatives overseas.
For two decades, Nepali students and their families have helped build that reputation.
A relationship worth protecting
I have spent much of my professional career encouraging young Nepalis to consider Australian education.
I have seen the opportunities it can create, the confidence it can give students and the pride it can bring their families.
I would like that relationship to continue growing.
But I also understand that the next generation will make its own decisions.
The students who went to Australia 15 or 20 years ago helped establish its reputation in Nepal. Their younger siblings, relatives and children now have more information, more choices and different expectations.
Australia cannot assume that the confidence of one generation will automatically carry into the next.
It must continue earning that confidence through quality education, fair treatment, clear policies and honest communication.
From Kathmandu, I do not see Nepali students giving up on Australia. I see them thinking more carefully, asking harder questions and looking at opportunities that earlier generations may not have considered.
And perhaps that is the message Australia needs to hear.
For the previous generation, Australia became a dream worth sacrificing for. For the next generation, it will have to remain a choice worth believing in.
Mukesh Dhamala is a Nepali citizen based in Kathmandu and an international education professional with more than a decade of experience representing Australian education providers and working with students, families and education agents across South Asia. His commentary has appeared in Pearls and Irritations, The PIE News and national online publications in Nepal. He writes in a personal capacity.
