The IEU examines the federal government’s international student cap of 270,000 from 2025.
It’s long been predicted, but the federal government has finally followed through on its threat to impose caps on international student numbers. The government has proposed that a total of 270,000 international students will be allowed into the country from next year – but this headline figure is not all that it seems.
Following the huge post-pandemic surge in arrivals, with pent-up demand leading to annual arrival numbers ballooning to about half a million people in 2023, and only a few less this year, the government has made changes to immigration settings.
It has instituted a range of measures over the course of 2024, including increased English language requirements, crackdowns on so-called “dodgy colleges”, slow visa response times and increased visa fees, as well as the recently announced caps.
How caps will be applied
These caps will be applied in different ways. To start with, they won’t apply to existing international students, nor will they apply to ELICOS colleges, nor to several other sectors. Vocational colleges will command 95,000 of the overall cap, with most of the rest to apply in the university sector.
The changes will affect the bigger universities more than smaller ones, and the idea is that international students will be directed more towards suburban and regional universities, which are generally more in need of the extra funds such students bring.
Whether students choose to attend these universities (as opposed to moving their studies to another country altogether) remains to be seen.
See Guardian Australia’s graph of international student caps for every university
Potentially these changes may mean job losses at some colleges. The IEU is monitoring the situation and will act where necessary.
Further resources:
- Revealed: 15 Australian universities to have their international student cap slashed (The Guardian, 9 September 2024)
- The government will cap new international students at 270,000 in 2025. But this number may not be reached (The Conversation, 27 August 2024)
- Present Tense: Time to ease off the crackdown (IEU Newsmonth, August 2024)
This update is part of the October 2024 edition of Future Perfect enewsletter.
You can read past editions of Future Perfect on our enews homepage or stay across all our updates on LinkedIn.
Future Perfect is distributed to IEU members in the private post-secondary education sector two times per year.
