Government Reduces International Student Numbers For 15 Universities

The Australian government has announced a new cap on international student numbers, reducing the intake limits for 15 universities, while allowing 23 others to admit more students than in 2023.

According to the latest figures by the Department of Education, Australian National University will have to slash the number of overseas students by 14% and Federation University Australia, Victoria's largest educational institution, can only admit 1,100 in 2025, down from 2,306 in 2023, reported The Guardian.

However, Charles Sturt University received the maximum raise to 1,000 students, a significant increase from the less than 200 in 2023.

The University of Sydney and University of Melbourne will have to slash their intake by 7%, limiting the students to 11,900 and 9,300, respectively. Overseas students account for more than 40% in both the universities.

University of Melbourne Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Nicola Phillips stated the 18% reduction would impact the revenue in the coming years.

"By comparison, this year, the University enrolled more than 10,400 new international students and we anticipated this to grow to over 11,000 in next year. As such, the proposed cap represents a 18% reduction in the number of new international student enrollments than we expected in 2025," Phillips said. "In financial terms, the indicative cap represents a revenue loss for the University of Melbourne of approximately $85 million in 2025, with flow on impacts into future years."

The government has come under criticism for the "random" and "arbitrary" rule it has imposed on the universities, with the education sector urging the administration to reconsider the move, stating that the rule would lead to thousands of job losses and closure of 300 independent colleges. The industry had maintained that the government did not consult them before implementing the cap.

The Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia chief executive, Troy Williams, said the members were "perplexed, bewildered and deeply worried."

He explained that while some independent providers received zero cap, others had to cap at 80%, which would lead to thousands of staff losing their jobs

"The impact of these cuts on the number of international students able to come to Australia is staggering with up to 300 independent colleges expected to close," Williams said. "Their employees will lose their jobs, as will other employees in colleges that will have to scale down to survive."

Former deputy secretary of the Department of Immigration Abul Rizvi pointed out that in one year Australia would face the problem of the number of students and temporary graduates exceeding the number of students currently in universities.

Right now, there are 800,000 foreign students, including those in the bridging visa backlog, and about 240,000 temporary graduates.

Once the student caps are met, the number of overseas students could rise to nearly 900,000. However, if the offshore student visa applications and grants continue at the same rate, the actual number of students could be approximately 850,000.

The projected number would depend on the number of students completing their education and how many leave the country. Hence, it could mean the situation is not as financially dire for the education sector as some might claim, the immigration expert wrote in Independent Australia.

"As the visas of these temporary graduates begin to expire, they will increasingly apply for asylum as they can no longer go back to a student visa. Again, not the Department of Education's problem. It will also mean net overseas migration is not falling as fast as Treasury has forecast," Rizvi wrote.