THE marketing of tertiary education to international students by Austrade has had a few "teething issues" in the midst of the growing crisis in the $18.6bn industry.

This will get the attention of Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans.

But he claimed that long visa processing times, which plagued the sector, had been largely resolved. However, the government's response and understanding of the impending crisis in student numbers appears fractured, with three departments now having some responsibility for the issues: tertiary education, immigration and trade, which was handed responsibility for marketing international education in July.

"There may have been a few minor teething issues in the handover," Senator Evans told the HES.

"It is now going fairly well and the marketing is pretty good, but we can always do more.

"It is something I will be giving my attention to.

"There are [also] a range of factors [that] are beyond our control, such as the dollar and increased efforts by our competitors.

But at the recent China International Students Conference fair, which began a six-month tour in Beijing two weeks ago, there were fewer Australian institutions represented (18) than from New Zealand. By comparison Canada, which is doubling its student intake during the next two years, had 80 booths.

Senator Evans is the first Labor Education Minister to visit China in at least 14 years. He met members of the Australia China Alumni Association on Monday in Beijing, where he handed out awards, including a PM's Australia-Asia Award to Jin Ling.

His trip is intended to help him better understand an anticipated dramatic fall in Chinese student numbers from next year. Some institutions are expecting numbers to plummet by up to 40 per cent, according to China-based agents.

"It is important to deliver the message that we are interested in deeper exchanges in China and collaboration on research," Senator Evans said.

"China is our largest trading partner and we need to be serious about engagement with Asia. We need to be serious about educational exchange and developing those opportunities which build people-to-people skills."

Senator Evans said while long visa processing times had been repaired, comparisons with quick North American processes could be misleading.

"They have less checks than us because they get the universities to do some, and the Americans interview everyone," he said. Senator Evans said the risk assessment levels issue, which required students to have $100,000 to get an Australian visa, had been raised by the Chinese.