Navitas says education demand will rise

Education services provider Navitas says demand for tuition in Australia from foreign students is improving, after the high Australian dollar and changes to visa requirements caused the market to slump.

Navitas last week reported a 5.5 per cent fall in annual net profit to $73.1 million.

Navitas said the 2011/12 financial year had been challenging as significant regulatory and policy changes in the United Kingdom and Australia affected enrolments.

Navitas chief executive officer Rod Jones told the ABC's Inside Business program on Sunday the continued high value of the Australian dollar had hurt providers of education for foreign students but the key factor had been tighter visa requirements.

Nonetheless, Mr Jones said the future for the education services sector was highly positive because the demand for education from students in foreign countries was still there.

"We're now seeing a turnaround," Mr Jones said.

"There's no doubt the market has bottomed in terms of student numbers and we are clearly seeing, as I think are most parts of the industry, a return of students back to Australia.

"So we expect it'll start growing from here."

Mr Jones said the value of the Australian dollar may go up or down, but students would still come to Australia for their education because facilities were often not available in their home countries.

Although some foreign students had decided to go to the United States and Canada for their education because of the changed regulatory environment in the UK and Australia, the US and Canada were unlikely to be able to meet the demand by themselves.

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