International fees in a post-COVID world
A combination of new market conditions and international rankings will enable Australian universities to reconsider their international fee strategies for 2023.
Student visa data currently shows a more favourable market outlook for Australia’s higher education sector in 2023 and a positive trend towards recovery.
Chart 3: Primary student visas lodged for higher education, 1 January 2022 – 31 June 2022
Source: This chart uses data from the Department of Home Affairs, Australian Government, June 2022
University rankings are an important factor for many international students and an essential element in the marketing mix of universities globally. After eight years of reviewing international tuition fees for all Australian universities, Studymove has identified a relationship between the international rankings of Australian universities and the average international tuition fee for various programs.
Using the 2022 QS and Times Higher Education World University Rankings and 2022 annual international tuition fees from all Australian universities, we have analysed and plotted the relationship between international ranking and international tuition fees. Overall, the analysis reveals a clear relationship between a higher ranking and a higher average tuition fee for international students. Whilst this may not be a surprise for many international education professionals, what is surprising is how strong the correlation is.
Chart 4 illustrates this relationship by presenting the overall QS ranking of each Australian university and their average annual international tuition fee for undergraduate programs in 2022. Each blue dot indicates the average international tuition fee and overall ranking of each Australian university.
Chart 4: Comparison of QS World University Rankings and average annual international tuition fee for Australian postgraduate programs, 2022
Source: D Huckel and K Ramirez, 2022 Comparative Analysis of International Tuition Fees in Australia, Studymove Pty Ltd, 2022
To measure how strong the relationship is between these two variables, we calculated the correlation coefficient. The correlation coefficient (a value between -1 and +1) reveals how strongly two variables are related to each other.
When the correlation coefficient is close to 1, it means that the relationship between the two variables is very strong. The analysis shows that the correlation for undergraduate programs is (-0.83) and for postgraduate coursework (-0.84).