Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news

Increasing tuitions and living costs and fierce competition from Asian counterparts have made the Australian universities suffer from a recruitment crisis, with the number of overseas applicants declining by eight percent in the first half of this year, eastday.com reported today.
Living costs for overseas students in the United States, Canada and New Zealand are all cheaper than those in Australia, a country with the second highest living costs for overseas students, next only to the United Kingdom.
Last year, it cost an overseas student 15,000 Australian dollars (US$12,000) to study in the UK, and 13,000 Australian dollars in Australia. A  bachelors of engineering degree in Australia (tuition and living costs) was more than double the amount in Hong Kong and nearly three times the amount on the Chinese mainland.
More recruitment from universities in Singapore, Malaysia, India and Hong Kong is also a reason Australian universities are suffering from a shortage of overseas students, said an industry analyst.
Education is listed ninth in Australia's export industry and is the country's third largest service export industry. Overseas students contributed 14 percent of the revenues for Australian universities last year, with most from Asia.
However, at present, many Asian students are choosing to study in the neighboring countries and areas to save costs.