Universities might poach students from each other, says report

Australian universities have been the hardest hit by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to those in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, according to an international report which says the sector may resort to lowering fees and entry standards to poach students from each other, writes Anna Patty for the Brisbane Times.

S&P Global Ratings, which revised its positive outlook for the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the University of Wollongong to negative last year, has provided another bleak sector outlook for this year because of their heavy reliance on international student enrolments. “Our overall sector view remains negative,” the report says.

S&P said the four Australian universities it rates – UNSW, the University of Wollongong, Australian National University and the University of Melbourne – have greater capacity “to ride out the storm” than other universities around the country, having entered the COVID-19 crisis with robust balance sheets. “Their strong reputations also mean that if student demand were to wane, they could tweak their fees or entry standards to cannibalise demand from lower-ranked peers,” the agency said.
Full report on the Brisbane Times site