Overseas students shift focus to Australia after Trump election
A website designed to attract international students to Australia has reported a huge spike in hits following the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the US. Chris Lester, chief executive of the Good Education Group, said traffic to its Studies in Australia site peaked after the election and now sat at about twice the November average. Mr Lester said there were many signs pointing to a boost in international students from non-traditional countries. “Despite being the world’s fourth most popular study destination behind Britain, France and the US, Australia’s $20 billion-a-year international education sector is not so much ‘international’ as it is Asian,” Mr Lester said. He pointed to a survey in May that asked 40,000 prospective international students from all across the world about their attitude towards a potential Trump presidency. Sixty per cent of the respondents said they would be less likely to attend a US college if the controversial businessman ended up in the White House.
