In February 2022, international student arrivals in Australia reached a 'super-strong' level.

In February 2022, international student arrivals in Australia reached a 'super-strong' level.

In February 2022, international student arrivals in Australia reached a 'super-strong' level.

According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 28,030 international students arrived in Australia in January 2022, an increase from 27,670 students who arrived in the same month the previous year.

At the beginning of February, the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services, and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke, stated that Australia is welcoming a growing number of overseas students, backpackers, and skilled migrants back to the country.

As an example, Hawke noted that there are more work opportunities present in Australia today than there were prior to the pandemic, and that there are more places available for backpackers and students as well.

According to Minister Hawke, "there are more jobs available in Australia now than there were before the COVID-19-Pandemic, and there are still many more places open to Backpackers and Students that we are eager to fill, so come on down."

Since the beginning of November 2021, a total of 56,000 overseas students have arrived in Australia. Approximately 7,000 international students returned to Australia from the 24th to the 30th of January.

"For the period January 2022 to December 2022, the overall number of overseas students in Australia was 355,627." According to the government's website, "there was a change of -21 percent compared to the same period last year."

Since the beginning of 2022, there has been a significant increase in the demand for Australian study visas, owing to the education department committing greater resources to the processing of foreign student visas.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian economy suffered substantially as a result of a dearth of international students studying in the country. According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on foreign commerce for the December quarter, the contribution of overseas education to the Australian economy has decreased by nearly half, from $40.3 billion in 2019 to $22.5 billion in 2021.

Leading Australian institutions have recently declared their support for international students who have been affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, declaring that they will provide counselling and other aid measures to international students affected by the Russian invasion.

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Sukh Sandhu

Executive Director

Sukh has been working in the VET and Higher Education Industry for over 25 years. In this time, he has held several roles with RTO's and Higher Education Providers (HEP) including CEO roles for International Colleges and National Compliance and Quality Assurance Manager roles for several RTO's, TAFE's and Universities. Sukh has also worked for the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) as a Business Systems Project Official. Sukh is a Canadian permanent resident and Australian citizen.

Sukh has had extensive project management experience in risk management, compliance, administration and as a training consultant. He has extensive knowledge in government compliance standards and has participated in nearly one hundred audits across Australia and provided consultancy advice regarding ASQA/VRQA, TEQSA, ACPET, DET-HESG, VQF/Higher Education, ELICOS, NEAS, ANMAC, AHPRA, CRICOS, ESOS and ISO.

Sukh is a member of several independent professional organisations and government bodies including, ACPET, VELG, ACS, AITD, MARA, MIA, ISANA, APEX, IEEE, The Internet Society (Global Member), AISIP, IAMOT, ACM, OISV, APACALL, IWA, Eta Kappa Nu, EDSIG and several others.

Sukh's qualifications include two MBAs, three masters in IT and systems, a Graduate diploma of management learning, Diploma in training design and development, Diploma in vocational education training, Diploma of work, health and safety, Diploma of Quality Auditing, Advanced diploma of management, Advanced diploma in marketing, human resources, information technology, and a number of other courses and qualifications. He has been working as a lecturer and as a trainer and assessor since 1998, Sukh has been a vocal advocate of audit reforms and system centred auditing practices rather than auditor centred auditing practices for many years.