Earlier this month, on 6 October 2020, Charles Darwin University made an announcement that it will become the first university in Australia for international students return after its proposal was approved by the Australian and Northern Territory Government. The proposal is to bring up to 70 international students from Singapore to Darwin by late October in order to be ready for the university’ next semester intake on 9 November 2020. This will be the first time Australia’s borders reopen for international students since March due to COVID-19.

These international students first will gather in Singapore and then travel to Darwin, all at their own expenses. Upon arrival, they will still need to follow the NT’s 14 day quarantine protocol as they will be ushered to a state government facility at Howard Spring.

Second Pilot Project For International Students Return

On 23 October, study in Australia was approved by the Australian federal government. This second pilot project was proposed by Adelaide University, the University of South Australia, UniSA and Flinders University. The plan is to fly back up to 300 international students from Singapore to Adelaide. The breakdown of the plan is as follows:

Adelaide University: up to 160 students,
UniSA: up to 90 students,
Flinders University: up to 45 students.

These international students will also follow the required quarantine period of 14 days by the state government once they arrive in South Australia. The plan was initially announced back in August but pushed back due to the second wave of COVID-19 in Victoria and general health concerns about people coming from abroad.

These two pilot plans of welcoming international students represents a critical step in the effort to support the recovery from COVID-19. Their success will determine the future of international students in Australia as the government will then be able to welcome much more international students to come back to continue their study. This will also be the opportunity to show Australia’s resilience of the pandemic and potentially be considered as a safe haven for future destinations of international students.

International students play a huge role in Australian economy. As reported in 2018-2019 Financial Year, the education sector benefitted to almost $40 billion from international students. This proves how important it is for these two pilot programs to work as the education sector has been predicted to suffer tremendous loss for years to come should international students are unable to enter the country.

Novus Education Can Help Your Student Visa Application!
We understand that applying for a visa to Australia is certainly very complex. It is even harder during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Our visa specialists at Novus Education will help you assess your visa options.