New Cap on International Student Numbers at all GO8 Universities

By Eduardo Caceres-Sandoval

ANU was ranked #1 as Australia’s ‘Most International University’ in the Times Higher Education Rankings 2023. As previously covered, international students are the single most vital source of funding for Australian universities, especially for those in the Group of Eight (GO8). No where is this more true than at ANU, whose student body ratio of domestic to international is 2:1. 

On the 11th May 2024, the Albanese Government announced new legislation in effect from the 20th May to “support the integrity and sustainability of the international education sector”. Clare O’Neil, Minister for Home Affairs, stated that:

“With international student visa grants back to pre-pandemic levels, the focus now shifts to ensuring numbers in the sector are managed more strategically over the long-term”. 

This comes in response to rising pressures in housing supply and migration costs in major Australian cities. Complaints of exploitation regarding rent increases and a lack of suitable housing has led certain international students to reconsider their decision of studying abroad. 

The Albanese Government’s solution? Setting a maximum number of international student enrolments at Australian universities and other educational institutions. 

Under the new legislation, Jason Clare MP, Minister for Education would decide what this amount is. He’ll also have new powers to pause applications for registration from new international education providers and of new courses from existing providers for periods of up to 12 months. Clare reasons this will protect international students from exploitation:

“International students are back but so are the shonks seeking to take advantage of them.”

The new legislation also means that Universities who breach their international student caps will be enrolling more students for up to a year, a major punishment that would cost the institutions millions in dollars of crucial revenue.  

The Group of Eight Organisation, consisting of Australia’s most prestigious universities has opposed this decision due to their reliance upon international student fees as a means of funding research and offsetting costs in general. 

Calling for a more “considered, and nuanced” solution, the Go8 says that while Sydney and Melbourne are facing pressure, Adelaide for example, requires more international students for strategic AUKUS programs. Additionally stating that the problem shall be largely under control in the future, the Go8 is also arguing that they, along with purpose-built student accommodation providers, have already made major investment in affordable student accommodation options catering to additional supply across the decade. GO8 Chief Executive Vicki Thomson stated:

“The architecture already exists to manage issues around the volume, pattern and profile of international students…[the government should] develop targeted, nuanced programs and solutions that fit in with the circumstances of each State, Territory, Institution and Community”. 

However, an overlooked component of the legislation was its aim to curtail Educational Visa exploitation. Education agents, used abroad to bring in foreign students to Australia, were largely unregulated.

The ‘Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia’s Visa System’, also known as the Nixon Review, would expose how criminal syndicates, corrupt education and migration agents had “united through family ties and business co-ownership” bringing in ‘students’ as cheap labour, and controlling the small educational colleges the students have enrolled in. 

To solve this problem, the new legislation will require all new education providers seeking registration to be scrutinised extensively, demonstrating a “track record of quality education delivery to domestic students, before they are allowed to recruit international students”, among other new regulatory standards. 

It remains to be seen whether the new legislation will have the effects it intends. 

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