Title: A critical review of Australia's China-dominant education supply chain

Authors: Mamta B. Chowdhury

Addresses: School of Business (Economics, Finance and Property), Western Sydney University, 169 Macquarie Street, Parramatta City Campus; Darug Country, Locked Bag 1797; Penrith NSW 2751, Australia

Abstract: This study examines whether the expansion of Australia's international education sector has been highly dependent on students from China supported by competitive supply chain management. In 2019, Australia's earnings from international education were A$40.3 billion, of which 30% was contributed by Chinese education visitors. However, researchers and observers have been alluding to the risks of over-reliance on the Chinese market in recent years. Further, the COVID-19 outbreak since early 2020 has severely disrupted the supply chains of the international education sector because Australia imposed travel bans for all international visitors. The econometric results of the study suggest that Chinese students contributed significantly to the education exports and economic growth of Australia. Policy recommendations emphasise on the diversification of the education market and effective supply chain management to recover from the financial hardship experienced by the sector caused by the COVID-19 pandemic along with the recent geopolitical tension between Australia and China.

Keywords: internationalisation of education; international students; education visitors; supply chain disruption; Australia; China; cointegration; ARDL bounds test.

DOI: 10.1504/IJASM.2022.124914

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2022 Vol.15 No.2, pp.147 - 166

Received: 09 May 2021
Accepted: 14 Oct 2021
Published online: 16 Aug 2022 *

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