The Australian state of New South Wales has announced that international students will be allowed to enter the state by the end of this year.  A 2-weeks quarantine will be required on arrival, and students will be staying in a purpose-built facility in Sydney. A group of 500 students is estimated to arrive by the end of 2021. 

The students who are allowed to participate in the programme are only the ones who have been fully vaccinated by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) vaccines. Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Janssen vaccinations are all approved.

Commenting on the reopening process, The Universities Australia Chief Executive Catriona Jackson stated: “nearly half of all international students in higher education remain outside Australia. In addition, around one-third of our international PhD students are also offshore, anxious to return to complete their research here. All of them will be looking to the success of the New South Wales initiative.”  

International students provide essential economic assets to the Australian community, and Australia hopes with these new steps, it can soon reopen fully and admit the same amount of international students as before. 

A couple of New South Wales institutions participating in the reopening programme include the University of Sydney, Macquarie University, University of Newcastle, UNSW Sydney, Western Sydney University, University of Wollongong, University of Technology Sydney and Australian Catholic University.