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Australian universities are offering cash “grants” to Chinese students to help them get around the coronavirus travel ban — a decision labelled “indefensible” by an education expert.

The University of Melbourne has announced it will pay students up to $7500 each to cover accommodation, airfares and quarantine costs incurred during the ban.

Others, including the University of Western Sydney, Adelaide University and the Australian National University, have offered smaller packages ranging from $1500 and $5000, with some also promising to waive fees if those forced to study remotely fail their courses.

But those tactics have been slammed by Associate Professor Salvatore Babones of the Centre for Independent Studies, who said it was “unethical” to encourage “risky, refugee-style travel”.

Prof Babones was particularly critical of the University of Melbourne, which he said relied on Chinese students for a whopping 18 per cent of its revenue.

“(It is) morally indefensible to encourage thousands of Chinese youngsters to travel at this difficult time, especially when they would be transiting through poor, vulnerable countries like Thailand,” Prof Babones told the ABC.

“It is thoroughly unethical for a university to encourage students to undertake risky refugee-style travel in order to slip into Australia through a third country back door.”

On February 1, the Federal Government banned anyone travelling from mainland China from entering Australia unless they had spent 14 days — the officially recognised incubation period for COVID-19 — in another country.

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Hundreds of Chinese students have already returned to Australia having served out quarantine in Thailand, Hong Kong and other Asian countries but scores more remain in limbo.

With less than a month until the cut-off date for students to start the semester, the country’s major campuses are bracing to lose millions of dollars in fees.

If students stranded in China are unable to make it back to Australia by the university census date, an estimated $1.2 billion will be lost.

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The Group of Eight (Go8), which encompasses the country’s leading universities, is considering an airline offer of charter flights to bring back tens of thousands of students.

Go8 chief executive Vicki Thomson said that the travel bans were lifted, getting students back to Australia, accommodated and enrolled would be the biggest logistic issue for most universities.

“We also have to deal with the big-picture effect to Australia’s education reputation,” she told The Australia Financial Review.

An estimated 190,000 Chinese students are enrolled in tertiary institutions across Australia — almost 70,000 of them in NSW — raising the possibility the virus that causes COVID-19 — could be introduced into Australia via asymptomatic students.

The nation’s tally remains stable at 22 and health authorities say there is no evidence coronavirus is spreading within the community at the moment.

#Coronavirus: Incubation period much longer than 14 days, infections worldwide skyrocket. Pandemic imminent. Therefore, Australia lifts travel ban for Chinese students so private Universities earn money. https://t.co/LJQGhcfFHr — alpнacenтaυrι😷 (@alphacentauriii) February 22, 2020

Well said. Australia Federal government allowed about 1500 Chinese students enter Australia recently. If there is outbreaks of Wuhan coronavirus, we are going to suffer. @ScottMorrisonMP https://t.co/DQV9XDvgG1 — Susan Zhang, PhD, B.Med (@susanzh77455188) February 26, 2020

This is concerning and shows how far colleges will go for tuition revenue.



One of Australia's most prestigious universities is offering $7,500 “grants” to help Chinese students get around the coronavirus travel ban and resume their studies. https://t.co/oynIZ1fgQj — Nick Ducoff (@nickducoff) February 26, 2020

In a statement to the ABC, University of Melbourne provost Professor Mark Considine said it had been a difficult time for affected students and “we are working hard to ensure they can complete their studies on time”.

“The student support grants are intended to help students with unanticipated expenses incurred as a result of the travel restrictions related to COVID-19 and to help students transition to or return to study at the University of Melbourne,” he said.

Meanwhile, Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan is due to meet China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, today to discuss China’s internet firewall.

The firewall prevents academics and students in China from accessing university websites in Australia as well as other content.