International student caps are creating a huge headache for universities. But they could have an impact beyond elite campuses
- Written by Peter Hurley, Director, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University
Just before the May budget, the federal government made a surprise announcement: it will introduce caps on the number of international students in the country.
It is fair to say this plan is really worrying some Australian universities.
The sector argues cutting student numbers will see job losses and less money to do research. They also warn cuts will hurt their international reputation and place in global rankings.
This is because international education is a vital source of funding for Australia’s universities. Universities collected about A$8.6 billion from international students in 2022 – more than a quarter of all revenue.
Given the sums involved, the introduction of caps has the potential to have the most significant impact on Australia’s tertiary education system in decades. But a major unanswered question is what the caps will be and how they will be calculated.
Remind me, what did the government announce?
Education Minister Jason Clare introduced legislation to parliament on student caps almost immediately after the budget was released. This would provide ministerial powers to regulate international education in Australia by:
pausing the registration of new providers and new courses
limiting the enrolments of overseas students by provider, course or location, over a year
automatically suspending and cancelling courses.
This comes as the government seeks to reduce net overseas migration (the increase in the number of people in Australia) to pre-pandemic levels of about 260,000 people per year.
It also follows similar moves in Canada and the United Kingdom, which have introduced changes to limit the number of international students in their countries.
