More than 24,000 Vietnamese students were enrolled at Australian educational facilities last year, making the country the fourth-largest source of students in the country behind China, India, and Nepal.
Foreign students at a university in Sydney, Australia (Photo: AFP/VNA)
The figure was 2,000 less than in 2019.
Dang Thuy Chi, First Secretary in charge of education at the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia, said a large number of Vietnamese students in the country returned home last year but still took classes online.
According to figures from Australia’s Department of Education, Skills and Employment, COVID-19-related border closures resulted in the number of foreign students in the country standing at 686,104 in 2020, an annual decline of 9 percent. The figure does not include those taking online courses offered by Australian educational establishments from outside of the country.
Australia has largely brought the pandemic under control and begun a vaccination campaign. The Australian Government, however, is yet to make a decision on opening its border to international students, as it is prioritising the arrival of tens of thousands of Australians from overseas./.