Chapter 4: The Postpandemic Evolution of Internationalization in Australian Higher Education: Situating the Current Crisis in the Historical Sociocultural Policy Context

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken an immediate toll on higher education with the closing of Australian borders, the canceling of travel visas for the commencement of overseas student study, and the return of international students to home countries. As Australia’s third most important export overall, valued at $32.2 billion in 2017 (Department of Education and Training, 2017) the state of internationalization in higher education is pivotal to the Australian economy. The impact of the current pandemic must be contextualized in the complex historical, sociocultural policy background, which is closely aligned to globalization and the competing policy agendas of immigration and higher education quality. From this background, which has created Australian university reliance on income from international students, the post-COVID-19 prospects for Australian international higher education will be considered.