Saudi students have been a major growth market for the University of Newcastle over the past five years, but their numbers will decline significantly this year, as reported by the Newcastle Herald yesterday.

The Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission banned new students from enrolling amid allegations they were being used by the university as ‘‘cash cows’’.

A university spokeswoman said enrolment growth would be pursued in Asian countries including Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

She said it was expected that international student enrolments would increase slightly this year on the back of the number of Chinese students coming to the region.

‘‘We have had a steady growth in international students over the past five years and we aim for this trend to continue,’’ the spokeswoman said.

China’s appetite for higher education is continuing, bringing relief for Australian universities as a strong Aussie dollar deters foreign students.

Newcastle’s international student enrolments increased 56per cent from 3307 in 2006 to 5166 last year, comprising almost 20per cent of total onshore enrolments.

Last year there were 32,781 students studying at the university in Australia. Over the same time revenue from the export market jumped more than 60per cent from $37.17million to $60million.

International student enrolments are already down by as much as 30per cent at some Australian universities.