The wave of Chinese commercial and property investment may grab today’s headlines, just as the Japanese investment tsunami did back in the early 1990’s. But it’s in attracting Chinese, and potentially Japanese students, where significant value lies.
China is fast becoming the number one source market for international students to the Gold Coast, with an estimated 4,000 students, and numbers look set to soar as Study Gold Coast launches the first ever whole-of-city in-market campaign in China.
Chengdu, home of the giant pandas, may not be on the mental map for many people when they think of the land of Confucius.
But this second-tier Chinese city of more than 20 million, capital of the Western province of Sichuan (with 81 million people), is also home to a potential student market of around 1 million – that’s a market almost twice as big as the Gold Coast population. It is a largely untapped education market, and also a city that the Gold Coast has courted at the civic level to maximize mutual trade, investment, education and tourism opportunities.
Education is highly valued in the Confucian tradition of Northeast Asia, including both China and Japan. And with small families of one or two children, parents are prepared to invest to ensure they provide the best education they can afford.
While parental opinions still hold sway – and attributes like a safe and clean environment (the Gold Coast gets a big tick internationally) are high on their priorities, lifestyle is a big selling point for increasingly savvy students who are exercising more of a say in their education future.
Social media is the place to reach those students, explains Study Gold Coast CEO Shannon Willoughby.
“Our campaign will see Study Gold Coast working with the Chengdu Education Board via a social media and digital platform to run a competition to bring Chinese students to the city to study and promote their experiences,” says Ms Willougby.
Indeed wherever international students come from – and the mix of domestic and international students on the Gold Coast is very multicultural (another big selling point, as the student population isn’t swamped by one nationality), lifestyle is the obvious trump card over capital city competitors. What’s not to love about the beautiful beaches and rainforest hinterland for starters.
Griffith University is ranked in the top 400 in the world, and the top 50 universities under 50 years old
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But educational and research reputation is an increasingly important draw card. With Griffith University now ranked in the world’s top 400 universities (and the top 50 universities under 50-years-old), Bond University consistently scoring 5-star ratings in Australia’s Good University Guide, and award-winning institutions like Browns College offering excellent English language education, it may not be long before education reputation proceeds lifestyle.
Southern Cross University ranked number one in Australia in 2013 and 2014 on the International Student Barometer (ISB) for international student support, while Griffith University Village was judged the best student accommodation in Australia.
“Modern students are looking for the whole experience – the educational journey, and not just the outcome – the piece of paper at the end,” says Ms Willoughby.
The Australian journey began some 20 years ago for Professor Hui Jun Zhao, who came to the University of Wollongong to complete his PhD, before moving to Griffith University, lured by its strong reputation in environmental science.
This nanochemist now heads the Griffith Centre for Clean Environment and Energy and has been named in the Chinese Academy of Science’s top 1000 talent program, which affords him a laboratory in China where he spends up to half his time. He also oversees 50 staff on the Gold Coast, including 30 PhD students – almost all from China.
Professor Huijun Zhao, Nanochemist, Director Griffith Centre for Clean Environment and Energy
Jiheng Feng, Gold Coast Chinese Students & Scholars Association
For Jinheng Feng the calibre of his research supervisor at Bond University was the key driver in his decision to come to the Gold Coast to undertake his Phd in Law.
“My supervisor, who is an expert in his field, was the big attraction,” says Jiheng. “I also really like the Gold Coast – to me it is a small friendly city that is safe, clean and quiet compared to the pace of Beijing or Shanghai. As a junior researcher, I have space and time to think.”
Feng heads up the recently formed Gold Coast Chinese Students & Scholars Association, which unites the separate Chinese student associations at Griffith, Bond and Southern Cross Universities with the aim of building bridges to the broader community and businesses. Many Chinese graduates want to work in Australia after completing their studies, so graduate employment is also a big focus for the group.
“Many Chinese alumni are working in Southeast Queensland so we want them to share their experiences so current students can follow,” says Jiheng, who supports the push into Chengdu.”Chengdu is a more relaxed, laid-back Chinese city compared with the large eastern cities so it matches well with the Gold Coast and there is a big market.”
There’s no arguing with the numbers – each international university student (or domestic uni student from outside the city for that matter), injects about $55,000 per annum into the local economy.
Then there’s the education tourism benefits – visiting friends and relatives (known as the VFR market). Statistics show that on average an international student’s parents will visit twice over the course of a 3-year bachelor’s degree, staying 21 days and often staying in 5-star accommodation.
Parents are increasingly purchasing property for their children to live in while studying.
Southport, with it’s CBD status, emerging Chinatown and light-rail access is popular as a growing student hub
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The cultural, social and workplace connections may be less tangible to measure, but are equally important to an internationalized city like the Gold Coast. Students make friends, integrate with the broader community and find local employment and entrepreneurial opportunities – they become ambassadors for the city in more ways than merely promoting education.
From dragon-boat racing to the Gold Coast love affair with Japanese food it’s obvious everyone is enriched.
Japan is looking to higher education to become less insular and more internationalized. Japanese Government policy seeks to provide incentives for students to study abroad, particularly encouraging middle management to become more globally focused through overseas study.
Study Gold Coast heads to Tokyo as part of a delegation this month to scope just what this might mean for the Gold Coast.
“We are working with Tourism and Events Queensland and City of Gold Coast to look at various opportunities. With Japan hosting the 2020 Olympics there is potential for specialised courses, building on the expertise the Gold Coast will develop through the 2018 Commonwealth Games,” says Ms Willoughby.
“Japanese policy is to not expand university infrastructure but instead to direct funds to support students studying overseas, so the potential could be significant.”
Commonwealth nations Malaysia, India and Canada are also on the radar, with the city already attracting significant numbers of students from all three markets.
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