Page 52 - Education World July 2020

International News

“more dependent on foreign student fees than comparable
systems around the world, that’s a decision successive gov-
ernments have made,” he argues.
Some in the current conservative coalition government
retort that universities have brought the crisis on them-
selves. They “bet big on the international-student dollar”
and “have become badly over-exposed”, James Paterson,
a senator, recently declared. Vice chancellors have “priva-
tised profits” from foreign students, “building Taj Mahals
to themselves”, a conservative commentator complains.
Even some of those employed by universities are critical.
“It wasn’t a Ponzi scheme,” says the academic at La Trobe,
“but it’s in that ballpark.”
Universities Australia, which represents the industry,
is not sure exactly how many foreign students it has lost.
The University of Sydney has fallen 17 percent short of its HKU’s Ian Holiday: restrictions not lockdown
enrolment target for 2020, according to Spence, and now
faces a budget shortfall of A$470 million (Rs.2,444 crore). was a critical period for everyone to become literate” in dis-
Across the industry, revenue could fall by A$3-4.6 billion, ease control, she said.
according to Universities Australia, putting 21,000 jobs at Administrators are nevertheless bracing for a dreaded
risk, many of them in research. second wave of infection. Many Asian institutions will con-
So far, the government has been disinclined to help. It tinue running online classes simultaneously, just in case
says it will still fund the places of domestic students, even campuses need to shutter again. Distance learning will also
if they drop out rather than embrace online learning. But it benefit overseas students, who number in the hundreds of
has excluded universities from its A$60 billion (Rs.313,340 thousands and are unlikely to return to campus soon be-
crore) wage-subsidy scheme JobKeeper. Dan Tehan, the cause of strict travel bans.
education minister, has called for “a greater focus on do- Across the region, institutions are grappling with how to
mestic students”. balance disease prevention and a return to some semblance
Few seem to think universities will fail. Smaller, regional of normal campus life.
institutions are in greatest danger, but since they are an im- A recent walk (early June) around the University of Hong
portant source of jobs, state and federal governments might Kong unveiled a campus that was quieter than usual, but
be persuaded to prop them up. They will, however, have to still lively and open to visitors. Faculty were back in offic-
shrink to survive. Universities will be “smaller in staffing es, residential colleges were partially full and the museum
and smaller in revenue”, says John Dewar, La Trobe’s vice was presenting an exhibition of Chinese ink paintings. Still,
chancellor. There could be “a massive change in the types of there was a mask on every face, plus a digital thermometer
courses they offer”, predicts another academic. That seems and hand sanitiser in every hallway.
to be just what the government wants. “We never had a lockdown; we had restrictions. We are
looking ahead now,” Ian Holliday, HKU vice-president
ASIA and pro vice chancellor (teaching and learning), said in an
Varsities normalcy preparations online dialogue on the Fight Covid-19 website. “The Hong
Kong people have been exemplary in responding to the cri-
N SOME PARTS OF ASIA, MASKED BUT CAUTIOUS sis. They have no hesitation in using face masks; they pay
students and faculty are beginning to fill up classrooms, attention to and act on science; and they always act respon-
Ilaboratories and dormitories once more. If the spread sibly,” he told Ti m es H i gher E duc ati on. HKU will move to
of Covid-19 continues to be contained, most universities in a “gradual and partial return to face-to-face teaching” for
mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Singapore expect summer courses and the autumn semester, using hybrid
to be open for at least some in-person teaching in the 2020- teaching methods, adds Holliday.
21 academic year. At the National University of Singapore (NUS), cam-
Taiwan, has kept its universities open throughout most pus operations resumed on June 2, the first day that the
of the pandemic, with only a few weeks of disruption in city-state began exiting its “circuit breaker”, the name of
February. Huey-Jen Jenny Su, president of National Cheng its partial coronavirus lockdown. When students return
Kung University (NCKU), told a Ti m es H i gher E duc ati on for the new semester in August, they will have their tem-
Live Asia event that the institution had set up screening peratures checked and locations tracked on an app via a
facilities and implemented student check-ups, distributed national digital check-in system. They will move by bus
face masks and rolled out social distancing measures. “It between special zones designated for teaching, research

52 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2020