The Australian state of Victoria will lose prospective international students to other countries if the federal government continues to delay the re-opening of its borders to overseas students, a university head fears. Deakin University’s Vice-Chancellor Iain Martin said the state government’s inaction on welcoming students back into the state is causing them, especially those from India, to look to other countries to study. He called for the government to accelerate plans for students to return, so the multi-billion dollar sector would not suffer further economic losses. “I don’t want to leave this sitting for another six months without an articulated pathway because I think that will push the recovery back probably another full 12 months,” Martin told The Age. Education Minister Alan Tudge recently forecasted the mass return of international students to begin in 2022. He also said universities were welcome to work with local governments to allow small cohorts’ …