International student focus of Premier’s China trip
Premier Peter Malinauskas says a priority of his trade visit to China and Singapore in September will be to attract international students, in the wake of the agreement to merge the universities of Adelaide and South Australia.
Premier Peter Malinauskas. Photo: Brett Hartwig/InDaily
Malinauskas told Parliament this afternoon that the state government deal to spend nearly $450m to help the merger included $30m to attract more international students.
“A key focus of the visit will be to promote South Australia as a destination of choice for students from China and Singapore,” he said.
“Students from mainland China currently make up the second largest cohort of international students enrolled in South Australia schools and Universities. Between January and April 2023 there were 6,785 Chinese students enrolled in South Australia, representing 19% of all international students.
“However, this is significantly lower than pre-COVID in 2019 when there were 12,564 studying in South Australia.”
The Premier said that his week-long trade visit to China from September 14-21 would also focus on tourism, agriculture and wine, and that “I will be advocating for the easing of trade blockages affecting South Australian exports including wine and lobster”.
He told Parliament that China was the state’s number one export market and was worth more than $2.8b in the year to May – up 48 per cent on the previous year.
