Government announces plan to cap university international student enrolments at 270,000 from 2025

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Universities have vowed to fight the government's plan to impose caps on international students for the first time. From next year the government is proposing to limit the number of new students to 270,000 across public and private providers.

Transcript

00:00We've seen a furious reaction from parts of the sector, especially the Group of Eight.

00:06They're the oldest, richest and most elite universities in Australia.

00:10But I think the effectiveness of their opposition to this has really been undercut by the fact

00:14a number of universities have come out in favour of the government's plan.

00:18The way the government's structured this, regional universities will actually be able

00:22to increase their number of new students in a lot of cases.

00:26That hasn't got all of them on board, but it's got a chunk on board.

00:29And the universities that are really losing out under the policy are the Group of Eight,

00:33who are looking at enrolling about 22,000 fewer new students next year compared to this

00:38year.

00:39It's all a bit back of the envelope at the moment in terms of calculations, but they're

00:43saying that could be a billion dollars in revenue.

00:47The university's Australia Chair, Professor David Lloyd, was out today and here's what

00:51he had to say.

00:55What is at play here is a political play around migration and being seen to be tough on migration.

01:00And regrettably, the students who are being caught in the middle are not the cause of

01:04migration in Australia.

01:05We know that 86 per cent of the students who come to learn in Australia go back to their

01:09home countries.

01:10The reasons for this go well beyond education.

01:12It was initially triggered by revelations of shonky practices in parts of the private

01:17vocational mainly side of the sector, whereby students were saying they were coming here

01:22to study but were actually coming here to work.

01:25So the government was cracking down on that.

01:26But it's also much more widely about the politics of immigration and a strong perception in

01:31parts of the community that immigration is too high and is contributing to the cost of

01:35living pressures.

01:36Here's what Finance Minister Katie Gallagher had to say.

01:41The large numbers of students that we've seen arriving into Australia has, you know, I think

01:47particularly post-pandemic, you know, has, you know, I think placed pressure on certainly

01:54our, you know, our migration and planning levels, but, you know, also on universities

01:59as well.

02:00And, you know, this, I think having this number provides certainty to universities.

02:07That's Finance Minister Katie Gallagher there.

02:09And really the kind of key window now for universities is the time between now and when

02:14this legislation goes through Parliament.

02:17And really there'll be quite a fight from universities hoping to influence Senate members

02:22and have this bill either killed off, watered down or delayed.

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