The streets of downtown Melbourne. (photo by the New York Times)
The Australian-worth $2 billion of the international education industry has greatly changed the face of a number of Australian-state cities, which have been keen to attract Asian students, according to the Australian-Australian newspaper.
According to the latest analysis by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of Chinese students studying in Melbourne has reached a record high over the past few decades, attracted by Australia`s higher quality of education and relatively cheap student accommodation. The heart of Melbourne has also undergone a dramatic cultural change.
According to the Bureau of Statistics, 38% of Melbourne`s downtown population (18,000) has a Chinese background. The surge has changed the face of Melbourne`s center, especially the size of Chinatown in (Little Bourke Street), a city centre where Chinese students have reached a high level of population.
There are many Chinese faces in Melbourne`s bustling Chinatown. (pictures from the Web)
According to the Bureau of Statistics, more than half of the residents (55%) of (Hurstville) in the Chinese district of southern Sydney (55%) have a Chinese background, and the number is 16403. Even so, it is still lower than the 18,000 Chinese in downtown Melbourne, where one in three people speak Chinese.
In contrast, only 12% of people with an English background in downtown Melbourne, and 7.1% of Australians, are less than 1/5 compared with 38% of Chinese.
Last year, Melbourne attracted about 35,000 international students and one hundred and seventy five thousand students across the state.
The number of Chinese students in Adelaide has also increased substantially, with nearly 30% of people in the city (4,249) with Chinese backgrounds, only a little bit on Sydney. Brisbane and Perth are lagging behind other capital cities in attracting Chinese students, and nearly 9.2 per cent of the city`s downtown are Chinese, and the Brisbane is 16.7 per cent.
Melbourne Mayor Doyle (Robert Doyle) said that last year, the number of students studying in Melbourne`s inner city reached 35,000, the vast majority of whom were Chinese, and the number of Indian students was steadily increasing, and then Malaysia. Indonesian and Vietnamese students. Doyle said the city has made a lot of efforts to ensure that overseas students can enjoy their lives abroad and encouraged overseas students to actively participate in volunteer activities.
John Brumby, president of the Australia China Business Council, said the fresh air, the clean city, and the desire of wealthy Chinese parents to provide high-quality education for their children are the reasons for most of the Chinese middle-class visitors to Australia and for their children to study abroad. The national education export earnings have a greater role in broadening the Australian economy, he said, as compared to the regional mining boom.
"This market will continue to grow if we work well, provide high-quality education, good experience and cost-effective prices."
Overseas students Xiao and Ray are outside the Victoria Library in downtown Melbourne. (photo by Australian newspaper)
Xiao (Ricardo Xiao), 17, and Ray (Ivy Lei), 18, from southern China, came to the University of Melbourne to study computer and biology. Both lived in (Trinity College)., a boarding college near the school. Living in Australia still requires adjustment in a number of ways, but, like most Chinese, Xiao enjoys the clean air.
Asked what he liked best, he said, "there are a lot of grass and trees here."
