Education minister Jason Clare said the Universities Accord (Opening Doors to Opportunity) Bill 2026 “sets out a framework for the ATEC to exercise its existing power to allocate international student numbers.”
He confirmed the government would continue to manage total international student numbers through the National Planning Level (NPL), stating there is currently no statutory cap on international students and that the legislation does not change this.
Under the NPL, the government sets an overall national figure for overseas student commencements, which is used to inform visa processing by the Department of Home Affairs.
If the Bill passes, responsibility for distributing those commencements across individual universities and providers would shift to ATEC.
“In other words, where the government sets a National Planning Level, the ATEC will allocate places to individual universities and other higher education providers,” explained Clare.
Under the proposed model, the minister would set an overall figure through an “international allocation pool determination” which would specify “the overall number of planned commencements”.
“The minister’s determination may also require ATEC to take into account government priorities, such as student housing and market diversification, when they make their allocations,” he added.
“However it will be ATEC that makes the decision about allocations to universities, in consultation with the universities through the process for negotiating mission-based compacts.”
This change responds to feedback from our universities. They told us that this power – to set individual allocations within the National Planning Level – should be exercised by the independent ATEC… and I agree
Jason Clare, education minister
“This change responds to feedback from our universities. They told us that this power – to set individual allocations within the National Planning Level – should be exercised by the independent ATEC… and I agree.”
“To help the ATEC with this work, the ATEC will be given access to international student and provider information collected under the ESOS Act,” explained Clare.
The National Student Ombudsman would also be given access to the same information. In addition, data-sharing provisions would allow information held by the Ombudsman and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to be shared with ATEC to inform allocation decisions.
The Bill is the seventh piece of legislation introduced by the Albanese Government to implement the Universities Accord.
Elsewhere, the legislation introduces a range of reforms recommended by the Universities Accord, including new funding arrangements aimed at expanding access to higher education for domestic students.
