Thousands of international students have returned to Victoria since Australia's borders reopened, but some students are still studying online, or have not returned at all.
The latest figures show 37,000 international students have returned to study in Victoria since December last year.
Interior design student Jinru Sun is among them.
She said she was grateful to be back in Melbourne after spending one year studying remotely from China in 2020.
In 2021 she decided to take a leave of absence until she could come back to learn in person.
"I prefer to communicate with my tutors and classmates face-to-face and enjoy the cool library here," she said.
She likes living in Melbourne, which she said was an inclusive and creative city.
"There are people from different backgrounds and people from different cultures all come here," she said.
Not all students have returned
There are now 105,600 international students in Victoria, compared to about 155,000 before the pandemic.
Of the 129,300 student visa holders in Victoria, around 18 per cent are still offshore or studying from overseas.
The state government is investing more money in marketing Melbourne as a study destination, in the hope of getting the industry back to where it was.
As part of a new five-year education recovery plan, it will continue to invest in overseas Study Melbourne hubs where offshore students can learn and socialise.
The hubs are currently in place in Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City, with pop up locations across India, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
The government is also expanding its Global Education Network program, sending state representatives to market Victoria's education sector in Colombia, Korea, Japan and Vietnam.
The $53 million plan includes an extension and expansion of half-price public transport passes for international students.
Trade Minister Tim Pallas said the plan recognises some of the hardships faced by students and the sector during the height of the pandemic.
"The whole community suffered, but perhaps more so the education sector than any other," he said.
"It will take some years before we get to those levels of 155,000 students, but we will see a solid return starting next year."
Despite many classes still being available online and some courses likely to move to a more permanent hybrid model, universities like the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology want students back in person.
"I'm very clear that the benefits for most of our students is a face to face, physically present education," said Professor Sherman Young, RMIT University deputy vice-chancellor.
"It's been fantastic to see [returning] students engage not just with their learning, but with the social connection that we know is just as important," he said.
"I don't want to lose sight of the fact that international education is not just about money. It really is about making the world a better place," he said.
Easier than ever for international students to find work
Bhavya Bagaria is studying commerce at Deakin University and said now was a great time for students to consider their return to Australia given how easy it was for international students to find work.
He said he has already been able to gain paid work relevant to his degree since arriving in Australia this year from his home in Mumbai, India.
"I hear this from all my friends at uni as well," he said.
"Given the unemployment rate is so low, there are so many opportunities for international students to get hands on experience while studying."
But it is not so simple for all students to get back to Australia, especially in cases where there are still travel restrictions, like in China.
Jinru Sun would normally return to see her family in China on semester break but was not able to due to changing restrictions and a lack of available and affordable flights.
"I hope this situation will be better by the end of the year," she said.
International education consultant Dirk Mulder said he expects a large number of students to return to Australia when Chinese travel restrictions ease.
Chinese students are by far the largest cohort of international student visa holders and data from the federal education and skills department shows about 35 per cent of them remain overseas.
"China is still coming out of some quite severe lockdowns, so as we start seeing the increased mobility of Chinese students I think we will see that number [studying offshore] significantly decrease," he said.
"Certainly what I would be thinking is that first semester next year, we should be seeing some really strong rebounding."
