Opinion: Students are doing great for all of us
The following opinion piece by Vice-Chancellor and President, Distinguished Professor George Williams AO, was first published by The Daily Telegraph.
I can’t speak for others, but at Western Sydney University our international students are not robbing people of the great Australian dream of owning a home.
In most cases their families – from places like Vietnam and Nepal – have saved up to send them to Australia. Once here, our students study and work hard, often under tough circumstances.
We have a bed for every international student who wants one. In fact, we have built enough accommodation that we even have 25 per cent spare capacity.
Those who don’t choose to stay in our purpose-built accommodation will live with family and friends in our dynamic region or with local families in home-stay-style arrangements, providing money each week to help local families make ends meet.
While they study with us, international students fill acute labour shortages. They shop locally and they quickly become part of the diverse cultural fabric of our region.
As one pizza shop owner put it last year, international students buy 70 per cent of their pizzas and they make 100 per cent.
To point the finger at international students for somehow fuelling Sydney’s housing crisis, especially in the western suburbs, is wrong and unfair. They are not responsible for decades of policy failure on housing supply.
Instead, international students are responsible for ensuring that frontline services are delivered to people living in Sydney’s west.
Many of the 1350 international students who studied nursing and midwifery with us in 2023 now work in the region’s overburdened hospitals.
They are the nurses who take your blood, top up your medications during your overnight hospital stay and work in our aged care facilities.
Our graduates are helping ease the region’s nursing shortfall, which is expected to hit 10,000 this year.
As both major political parties seek to scapegoat international students, the country is looking to import nurses from overseas. It defies logic that Australia would do so when we can train them locally to meet our conditions.
The international students who study with us work hard, fill critical frontline jobs and add immense value to the economy.
ENDS
7 April 2025
Latest News
ABC RN transcript: Vice-Chancellor Professor George Williams discusses higher education sector, student support, and the impact of AI
The following is a transcript of an interview that aired on ABC Radio National Saturday Extra between presenter, Nick Bryant and Vice-Chancellor, Distinguished Professor George Williams AO.
Western Sydney University are the number one Australian solar car team at the 2025 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge
Western Sydney Solar Car team has crossed the finish line placing preliminarily sixth in the world overall, and the number one Australian team in the world’s most prestigious solar car challenge.
Western Sydney University Statement on Cyber Incidents
Western Sydney University has issued an update to its community following confirmation that previously stolen personal information was published online, including on the dark web.