Adelaide – Australia’s fastest growing education city
Adelaide is Australia’s fastest growing city for international education, with overseas student numbers rising at twice the national average over the past three years.
And last year’s rapid growth of almost 17 per cent – driving enrolment of international students up to a record of more than 17,900 overseas students in 2005 – has not been lost on global education providers and investors.
A Chinese business consortium known as the Tengyu Group signed a deal late last year which paves the way for a $60 million, 20-storey apartment block for international students in the heart of Adelaide.
United States university Carnegie Mellon has also chosen Adelaide for the site of its new campus set to open in March 2006. The campus – Australia’s first foreign university – will include two new schools: the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management and the innovative Entertainment Technology Centre (ETC). Together, they will deliver three post-graduate American qualifications in Adelaide from 2006.
China accounts for Adelaide’s largest international student population, with more than 5,378 Chinese students (or 30 per cent of the total) choosing Adelaide in 2005. Many have gone on to occupy positions of influence in Australia and overseas.
They include former University of Adelaide engineering student Professor Cheung Yau-kai, who was the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers’ inaugural Gold Medal Winner.
Others, like Tom Zhang, have decided to stay on in South Australia. After studying at Adelaide’s St Peter’s College and later The University of Adelaide, Tom is now an International Student Advisor for the ANZ bank in Adelaide’s central business district.
To capitalise on growing interest among prospective overseas students, South Australia’s international education agency Education Adelaide will this year launch the state’s first global advertising campaign in China and Vietnam, positioning Adelaide as Australia’s learning city.
The pay television and print advertising campaign will highlight South Australia’s key competitive advantages, including:
- A longstanding tradition of excellence forged by renowned institutions including The University of Adelaide and Finders University.
- Specifically-designed courses with direct links to Australian businesses through the University of South Australia.
- Five bonus migration points earnt by students who choose Adelaide.
- Adelaide’s reputation as the fastest growing city in the world (outside Canada) for the International Baccalaureate program.
- The city’s status as the only place in the world offering French, Swiss and Australian hospitality/culinary undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications,? through the International College of Hotel Management and Le Cordon Bleu.
- Affordability (Adelaide’s cost of living is 18% cheaper than Sydney and 15% cheaper than Melbourne)
- A welcome, inclusive community.
“Adelaide will never compete with our eastern counterparts in terms of total numbers, and that’s part of our attractiveness to a growing number of international students,” says Education Adelaide Chief Executive Officer Denise Von Wald. “Adelaide’s strength lies in its ability to offer a genuine, affordable Australian education experience – where international students can be immersed in a friendly, welcoming environment.”
Website: www.studyadelaide.com
