As it confronts political pressure on immigration, Australia wants to cap the number of international students starting next year, the government announced Tuesday. This will put a brake on a multibillion dollar sector.
At a press conference, Education Minister Jason Clare announced that the number of new international students admitted to universities, colleges, and vocational programs would be capped at 270,000 by 2025.
“It will mean that some universities will have more students this year than next year. Others will have less,” Clare said as he unveiled the plan, which will require legislation.
Official data show that foreign students were worth more than Aus$42 billion (US$28 billion) to Australian universities and vocational education centres in 2023.
Australian authorities granted more than 577,000 international student visas in the fiscal year to June 30, 2023.
Clare said the change would mean about the same number of international students starting a course next year as there was before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The new limit aims to replace a recent policy of giving priority to students deemed to be at low risk of visa non-compliance — a system that has favoured top-ranked universities while drastically slowing visas for other institutions.
The 2025 breakdown will be 145,000 new foreign students for universities, 30,000 for other higher education providers, and 95,000 for vocational education and training, the government said.
“We acknowledge the government’s right to control migration numbers but this should not be done at the expense of any one sector, particularly one as economically important as education,” said Universities Australia chair David Lloyd.
