Obama Victory May Bring Repercussions on Student Recruitment. (November 6, 2008)

The Guardian's Anthea Lipsett points out that Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential election yesterday may have a significant effect on "the ability of British universities to recruit lucrative overseas students," and while she refers specifically to UK universities in that "the negative perception of America around the world since the September 11 terrorist attacks and the tightening of visa requirements that followed" has boosted recruitment by British universities the same would be true for Australia, and particularly in so far as the better students are concerned.

According to Dominic Scott, chief executive of the UK Council for International Student Affairs: "The UK has increased its recruitment quite successfully over the last four or five years, because of increased security measures that made the US less attractive and far less welcoming. The Obama success puts us into a whole new chapter and 4/11 [4^th of November] could well be as powerful and influential as 9/11 [9^th of September]."

Dr Bahram Bekhradnia, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute think tank, told Ms Lipsett that there was a risk overseas students would be lured to the US: "The UK has benefited greatly over the last seven years from the negative perception of the US and in particular the tightening up of visa arrangements there after 9/11 and the general feeling around the world that it was not the most welcoming place. I'm sure that perception will change and there will be much better view of America in other countries. That will have an effect on its ability to recruit, and that will have a knock-on effect on our ability to recruit."