Students give much more than they take
The following opinion piece by Vice-Chancellor and President, Distinguished Professor George Williams AO, was first published by The Daily Telegraph (Print) on 3 September 2024.
Western Sydney is no longer “out there”. In fact, with the city’s premier international airport opening in two years and massive infrastructure developments nearing completion in centres like Parramatta, it’s the real epicentre of Sydney.
Western Sydney is the nation’s third largest city economy, one of the nation’s fastest growing regions, and we accommodate more migrants than the rest of Sydney and nearly half of all arrivals to NSW.
To maintain its growth trajectory, the community can’t be held back.
It’s for this reason I’ve been so outspoken against the federal government’s decision to cap the number of international students studying with us next year.
The impacts will be large and negative to the Western Sydney community.
Our international students do not add to Western Sydney’s housing crisis. Every one of our international students who wants a bed, gets a bed. We have spare capacity at our purpose built accommodation villages and many of our students choose to stay with Western Sydney families in homestay-style arrangements where they contribute to rent or mortgage.
The caps mean almost 1000 fewer international students will study with us next year, and we’ll need to find an extra $26.5m for the services we provide to the community.
Our university has never wavered from its mission to provide a world-class education in Western Sydney. The contribution international
students make enables us to give back to our community through programs to help low-income students succeed.
They are the students who go on to work in our hospitals, and will work at the airport, at Bradfield Centre and for companies like Amazon that are investing millions in our region. They will help fill workforce shortages in industries such as advanced manufacturing, logistics, and medical technologies that are changing the nature of Western Sydney’s economy.
The federal government’s policy needs to account for the vibrancy and growth of Western Sydney, not ignore it altogether.
ENDS
3 September 2024
Photo credit: Sally Tsoutas
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