Western Australia's relative safety from COVID-19 will form a key part of its push for international students, but the sector's recovery still hangs in the balance.
For the first time since borders closed at the start of the pandemic, international students will be allowed into WA when the state reopens early next year.
They will need to comply with the same requirements as all other travellers, including being double-vaccinated to avoid hotel quarantine.
WA Premier Mark McGowan and Education Minister Sue Ellery met with tertiary education leaders on Wednesday to discuss the plan to bring students back to WA.
Ms Ellery is confident many international students will come to WA in time for semester 1 of 2022, which is due to begin in late February.
"I don't see any reason why they wouldn't [return], they're enrolled now and the universities want them back on campus, they have visas and they're waiting for flights," she said.
"The view expressed at the meeting yesterday was semester 2 is looking great and semester 1 is a bonus.
"If you were a mum or dad sitting in Singapore or anywhere else, thinking about where you might want to send your 18- or 19-year-old to get the best education, Western Australia is one of the safest places in the world to do that," she told ABC Radio Perth.
Survey finds Australia no longer 'open and welcoming'
But a survey of more than 1,000 education agents from 70 countries by education provider Navitas paints a different picture.
"Australia continues to trail in being open and welcoming, and is no longer being considered safe and stable," the organisation's head of strategic insights and analytics, Jon Chew, wrote.
"Australia has now lost whatever limited reputational advantages it enjoyed during COVID-19."
Despite each state and territory now having outlined its plans to move away from COVID-19 restrictions, Mr Chew said some announcements were seen overseas as "false starts".
'Pent up demand' to be relieved when borders open
But Mr Chew said things were looking up, with pent-up demand waiting to be released when borders opened.
"I think the hope and the optimism is certainly improving. The tenor of the political and policy announcements in the last month has really shifted in the right direction," he said.
"But what students and parents and agents need is a concrete date around which they can plan this very big step in their lives."
With the clock ticking until the 2022 academic year begins, Mr Chew said it is not too late to prepare for students to arrive for semester 1.
"There are lots of students who've already started, they've already bet on Australia and commenced studying back in their home countries online, so they'll be ready to hop on a plane as soon as that's viable.
"I think lots of students have hedged their bets, so they're keeping their options open for as long as they can."
WA's COVID-free status will appeal to Chinese families
WA appears almost certain to be the last state to drop its borders, sometime in late January or early February.
Many sectors have complained of the impact those restrictions are having, with businesses struggling for skilled staff.
Mr Chew said while many countries are learning to live with COVID, WA's approach could prove to be particularly popular among Chinese students and their families.
"They've continued to maintain a zero-COVID environment back home," he said.
"For those parents and students ... connections on the ground are telling us that there is a lot more hesitancy to jump on a plane to the UK or Canada.
"That's a key market where being able to offer a zero-COVID environment is extremely attractive."
But he said it would still be a key selling point for other countries, even where COVID is more prevalent.
"COVID is still a very real disease, it's not something that you want your children to get," he said.
"So I think in that respect, WA's incredibly phenomenal track record in dealing with COVID is an absolute asset."
Fears WA could be left behind as it drags heels on reopening
But the CEO of the International Education Association of Australia, Phil Honeywood, remains concerned WA could miss out.
"On a wing and a prayer, we have to say hopefully it will be January, February when the WA population will be 90 per cent vaccinated," he told ABC Radio Perth.
"We'd hope that they'll be aligned with the other states in terms of good numbers coming in for first semester.
Mr Honeywood said many students and their families have been patient since the start of the pandemic, putting their studies on hold or attending classes online.
But now, he said, they want certainty.
"They want to transparently understand what's going on in the different states in which they are returning to study in or want to start their studies for the first time," he said.
Universities focus on the future as they entice students back to campus
Curtin University has almost 2,500 students overseas who are waiting to start their studies or return to the university.
Vice-chancellor Harlene Hayne told ABC Radio Perth she and other tertiary education leaders had been working well with the government.
She said that from her perspective, there wasn't a major concern with the lack of a specific date just yet.
"I think the issue of the mythical date has just been a little bit overblown," Professor Hayne said.
Professor Hayne said there was little use worrying about the effects of previous government decisions, compared with how other jurisdictions had handled the pandemic.
"The only thing that we can do is what we can do going forward," she said.
"It may be that decisions that the government has made have forced some students to make a choice to go somewhere else in Australia or elsewhere.
"But I think the big opportunity here in Western Australia is, as the Minister has very clearly pointed out, it's a very safe place to be."
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