ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA: Universities in South Australia (SA) have written to the federal government requesting that foreign students be allowed to return to the region. Foreign enrolments in South African universities have fallen by 33% as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to data reported on Monday by the Xinhua news agency.

Sebastian Raneskold, Vice-President and Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) at Flinders University, said the decline was “deeply concerning” for an international student arrival schedule. According to what he told Australian news, these may require dedicated quarantining facilities for foreign students, to ensure that their return would not disrupt general repatriation attempts.

Foreign students contributed AUS $2 billion (US $1.54 billion) per year to the SA economy prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to News Corp Australia, enrolments from China, the state’s largest foreign education sector, have dropped 20% and those from India, the state’s second-largest market, have dropped 35% since the pandemic began.

Australia’s international boundaries are not expected to reopen until mid-2022, according to projections contained in the federal budget for fiscal year 2021-22.

In January, Education Minister Alan Tudge said the government was open to “all options” for foreign student return and invited state and territory governments to send proposals to the federal government.