Some stakeholders have welcomed the idea of a “soft” cap on international student enrolment, but warned the Australian government not to “risk” the country’s international education market.
In a new draft framework, of which the policies included would come into force later this year or in January 2025, the minister of education – currently Jason Clare – would have powers to set a ceiling on new enrolments at any institution.
While the sector is being called upon to respond to consultation – questions for them are directly included in the framework document – the chair of the Group of Eight said that the government needs to work with them on various challenges.
“We’re saying to the government, ‘do not risk this market’. You can see around the world, if you send the message that international students that they’re not welcome, they have many, many other options,” warned Mark Scott.
A survey from education giant IDP recently revealed that curbs on international students in the UK, Canada and Australia has pushed the US to the top of the pile for student interest.
He noted that the government is trying to have a more “calibrated, nuanced response” to numbers and “moderate the growth over time”.
“My reading of it is they’re not keen to see a reversal of international student numbers, but they can’t increase at a significant level year-on-year… I think that’s a reasonable expectation,” he relented.
Scott also referenced a recent survey by the National Australia Bank that showed international students were responsible for half of the country’s GDP growth in 2023.
Also vowing to work closely with the government to both implement the changes and protect the sector at once is the general body for universities in the country. Its CEO said in a statement that “stability and growth… is essential for our prosperity”.
“We will be working closely with the Government to co-design the policy settings needed to give the international education sector a strong and sustainable footing from which to grow into the future,” wrote Universities Australia’s Luke Sheehy.
“Decades of careful and strategic work by universities and the Government has seen Australia grow to be a leading provider of international education. We can’t let this work go to waste,” he also said, offering a slight warning.
Welcoming the idea of an unofficial cap is the AAERI President Nishidhar Borra: “The adoption of a soft cap over a hard one is welcomed, as we believe it will not disadvantage genuine prospective students.”
While noting the changes that are set to be implemented, he also pointed out those that will seemingly not be so.
“The absence of an increase in the application fee, contrary to some projections, is a another positive aspect worth noting,” said Borra.
It remains to be seen whether this will continue to be the case after the Australian budget has been outlined on May 14 – Ravi Lochan Singh, managing director of Global Reach, said he had heard any increase in the budget would still mean a fee of “less than $1,000”.
Singh also said that it is time for Australia’s sector to “acknowledge the challenges and ‘accept’ them”: “I recommend that we have to move ahead of denial and depression and work on strategies for [the] future. This will require us to accept the changes.”
The announcement prompted a stark reminder for international education research expert Rob Lawrence, who talked of how Australia’s global position has been “hard fought”.
“But whilst acknowledging this is a proposal, the mere thought of caps risks compromising our standing as an accessible education system,” he told The PIE.
“International students are worth so much more than the fees, living, accommodation and set-up costs that we see in many economic impact statements.
“There is a whole world of under recognised and unmeasured benefits that could be eroded by any decision to cap numbers,” he warned.
Accommodation issues were recently been debated upon by the sector, with a survey confirming that international students are certainly not to blame for the current crisis – which Scott reiterated.
“International students are worth so much more than the fees, living, accommodation and set-up costs”
“We’re conscious we need to be working to provide more student accommodations and we’re happy to work with Government on that.
“It would be very wrong, factually incorrect to suggest to the housing challenges we have now have really anything to do with international student numbers,” he added.
The proposed changes come after a barrage of different curbs have been put on the international education sector in recent months.
The Nixon Review and the later Migration Review in 2023 prompted the end-of-year announcement of changes to the post-study work visa, as well as clamp-downs on onshore switching commissions – something which was mentioned again in the draft framework.
