Australia risks “eroding” its reputation as a welcoming place for international students if it does not offer them hope about when they can return to the country to study, extended travel restrictions could cause frustration, uncertainty and anxiety among thousands of students who have been unable to travel to Australia to undertake their courses, adding that online education was not what they signed up for”.

We are urging the Australian government to spell out a timeframe for a staged, Covid-safe return to on-campus studies so students had something “to look forward to”. It would be “a pity” if students ended up turning to other countries to continue their studies.

The students would understand the restrictions if they continued for a reasonable length of time. “But if they go on without any determination about when they are likely to end, then it leads to a lot of frustration, it leads to a lot of uncertainty, it leads to anxiety,”

“That is not good for the students, of course, directly affected; that is perhaps also not good for the overall image of Australia as a great place for nepalese students.

it would be entirely reasonable for the Australian government to devise rules for students who wished to return – such as insisting they were fully vaccinated and tested for Covid-19 prior to departure and quarantining for two weeks on arrival.