The establishment line is that the universities bring in the big bucks; figures vary but the rhetoric is the same, $35 billion, you name it, your guess is as good as theirs:
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/08/australias-bogus-35b-international-student-market/
I am bored with this debate because I believe that societies need to move beyond the medieval university model of knowledge. So what if education can be flogged off to international students, just like farms and the rest of the country! With this mentality, with all that maters is a profit, sell off the entire country and everybody in as slaves. That should do the job! Anyway, there are dark clouds on the horizon for the universities, and I welcome it:
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/universities-urged-to-not-rely-on-international-students-for-revenue
“Australian universities have been warned against relying too heavily on any particular group of students to keep their coffers full. Education Minister Dan Tehan has expressed the sentiment, after one of his colleagues said he believes some universities are too dependent on international students for their livelihood. "I don't think that we have to be too concerned about the fact that we do have foreign students coming to Australia, participating in our higher education sector," Mr Tehan told Sky News on Sunday. "They bring a diversity to student life on our campuses. "What we do have to ensure though, is to make sure that universities understand that the more diverse the student mix they have, the better secure their financial forecasts will be, so the more diversity they can get, into their student mix, the better."
Blah, blah, diversity … but the real question is what happens if the elites do not send their little darlings to Australia. How quickly these ivory towers would collapse! And what a joy it would be to see them fall!