Continuity, contradiction or crash? Unknowns in the international student market

An excellent article by Monique Skidmore although I disagree that the crash scenario is the least likely, having witnessed the literally overnight drop in applications following publication of lower rankings of our education system some years ago. One omission is the consideration of the benefits and disbenefits to the Australian students and population of the mass of overseas students. The large numbers from a couple of countries and their generally poor levels of English sharply reduce the opportunities for productive association between the overseas and local students. Reciprocal understanding and long-term friendships across that divide are far fewer than with a more balanced intake. The Australian students and Australia fail to benefit when these longer term understandings and friendships are absent.