Sonia Gao is one of 200,000 Chinese students studying in Australia — a group which has helped transform the nation into an international education superpower worth A$37bn ($25bn) a year.
But like many of her compatriots, she will not be able to start the new academic year that begins next week. Australia, the US and New Zealand are among more than a dozen nations to impose a ban on entry to anyone who is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident if they travelled in China within the past 14 days. The measures, aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus, pose a multibillion-dollar threat to western universities, which have become increasingly reliant on income from Chinese students.
“Australia seems like it has the toughest attitude to overseas students. Some students could reconsider their places if the situation doesn’t change,” said Ms Gao, who was due to fly to Sydney on February 9 but is stranded in China along with 100,000 other students with places at Australian colleges and universities.