International students to return to Queensland via Wellcamp quarantine facility

International students will be returning to study in Queensland from the beginning of next year and will be the first to quarantine at the Wellcamp facility just outside Toowoomba, the state government says.

Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchcliffe made the announcement in parliament today, confirming eligible students could return to study next year provided they were fully vaccinated.

The Minister said those studying in the medical or allied health fields would be prioritised.

"2022 is the year of rebuilding and recovery for our international education sector and it starts in January, in time for the first semester," Mr Hinchcliffe said.

However, the Queensland government is yet to receive approval from the federal government on its plan to have international students quarantine at Wellcamp.

A spokesperson from the federal government said it received the plan just two hours before the announcement.

"We will assess in line with federal protocols and preconditions," they said.

Returning students will arrive at Brisbane Airport and be bused to Wellcamp, unless the federal government approves international charters to land there.

"We anticipate that these students will be able to back up our hard working frontline health workers," Mr Hinchcliffe said.

"The strategic advantage that we'll have over the southern states is the Wellcamp quarantine facility under construction west of Toowoomba."

Family cautious, but hopeful

The announcement has been met with cautious optimism from families like the Machiahs, who hope their son Aryan will be able to return from Papua New Guinea to study medicine in Queensland next year.

"There's hope, but you wait — it's cautious hope, you know," Aaryan's mother Nix Machiah said.

The Machiahs' efforts to get Aaryan back to his boarding school in Toowoomba were knocked back four times and they had started to look at alternative options for university.

"It would be good to see that families like ours don't have to go through what we went through in the last 18 months," Ms Machiah said.

But they say it is still up in the air — with limited access to the vaccine for his age group in Papua New Guinea, Aaryan is yet to receive a shot.  

"We really just don't know at this point, but he'd like to get back there, it's where his friends are, his home, and we know there's other kids in his position," Ms Machiah said.

Safety first, but universities 'delighted'

Mr Hinchcliffe said quarantine would remain necessary even when vaccination rates were high.

"The reality is too, we don't know if there is another variant of the virus around the corner and international quarantining will necessarily, potentially, come back up as an issue from time to time."

Queensland's Covid-19 plan includes doing away with quarantine for fully vaccinated international travellers, once 90 per cent of the eligible population is vaccinated.

"When we are at 90 per cent, that is a matter we'll have to contemplate, but this student arrival plan is in line with the requirements and criteria that are set by the Australian government," Mr Hinchliffe  said.

"And they're in line with similar requirements — there's quarantine requirements in all of the student arrival plans that other jurisdictions in Australia have at the moment."

University of Queensland vice chancellor Professor Deborah Terry said universities were keen to welcome students back.

"We've obviously been monitoring very closely interest in our courses. Australian higher education has a great reputation internationally and we are continuing to see high numbers of applications coming forward," she said.

QUT vice chancellor Professor Margaret Sheil said there was an important personal dimension to the announcement.

"Many of these students went home to visit families and have been unable to return for nearly two years," she said.

"They've stuck with us … they've been investing in that education that we're providing so the opportunity to send this really important signal that they're going to be able to return is so important."

James Cook University professor and chair of the Queensland Vice Chancellor Committee Sandra Harding said she was "delighted" by the plan.

"These students have been studying online for almost two years waiting to return to Queensland and many of them need to undertake important practical assessments to complete their studies," Dr Harding said.