Universities should raise international student fees – Professor

A new book on reforming the tertiary education sector argues that many universities are under-charging international students and should lift their fees to match the money spent by Australian governments on educating domestic students, writes Jordan Baker for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Associate Professor Salvatore Babones, a higher education commentator and sociologist at the University of Sydney, compared per-student revenue for domestic and international students and found overseas students contributed just AU$500 (US$358) more.

But at many universities, including the universities of New South Wales, Wollongong and Melbourne, the domestic per-student revenue was higher than the average cost of an international degree. For UNSW, revenue from a domestic place is almost AU$5,000 more. However, Babones included government research funding in his calculation of the revenue from domestic students, which others in the sector said should be considered separately and substantially inflated the domestic figure.
Full report on The Sydney Morning Herald site