The Student Accommodation Association was honoured to take part in the 2nd Australia China Education Symposium hosted by the Australia China Business Council in Sydney on Friday 10 June 2022.

The Symposium brought Industry and Government leaders together to identify key themes to the post-pandemic future.

Australia's future wellbeing relies on the university sector to produce our future leaders and advance research with global partners that will ensure economic growth and sustainability. International education is critical to the sector and China is a key partner as a major source of students, along with being Australia's third-largest research collaboration partner.

As further recognition for the important role student accommodation plays in the international education experience, the program included a panel discussion involving Anouk Darling, CEO, Scape, Matt Row, COO, UniLodge Australia (Vice President, SAA) and Geoff Denison, President Student Accommodation Association (SAA).

The panel helped the high-level Industry and Government audience to better understand why student accommodation is more than a place to live, the role the sector played in supporting international students during the pandemic and introduced them to the National Property Accreditation Scheme as the clear and consistent accommodation message to include in Australia’s international education post-pandemic offering.

The panel encouraged the audience to support NPAS, explaining that students in student accommodation are customers, while students in private rental accommodation are tenants. NPAS helps students make an informed accommodation choice.

To review the event summary, you can download it here.