Australia has always been a popular destination for international students, who contribute almost A$48 billion to the economy each year. Now, the government is aiming to reduce the number of international students, with some pointing to them as a factor in the growing housing crisis.
This marks a big shift in how the country has typically welcomed students from around the world. If you’re planning to study in Australia, here’s the state of things:
Tougher requirements
The Australian government made 9 changes to student migration rules last year, with a tenth predicted later in 2024. The changes include:
- More than doubling of international student visa fees, increasing them from A$710 to A$1,600 as of July 1 (the fee is non-refundable, even if the application is denied!)
- Tightened English language requirements in March (IELTS score to increase from 5.5 to 6)
- Raised the minimum savings for visa eligibility from A$24,505 to A$29,710 in May – it’s the second increase in seven months
- Introduced Genuine Student requirement, which aims to block “non-genuine” students coming to Australia to work rather than study
- Reduced period of time for former international students on temporary graduate visas to stay in Australia.
To give you an idea of how dire the situation is, the number of student visas approved fell by a quarter (nearly 60,000 students) in the past year.
And now, the government is talking about a plan to limit how many international students local universities can take in with the proposal of the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024. If it passes, the education minister will be able to cap international students based on education provider, campus location, and course.
Starting January 1, 2025, these caps will apply to new international students, while current students will be phased in over subsequent years. The focus of the 2025 caps will be education providers (including vocational education providers, universities, and pathway colleges) in the popular cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Misdirected policies?
Local universities earn about twice as much from international students compared to local students, and stricter visa rules have already cost the economy over A$4 billion due to a decline in international enrollment. According to Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy, the cap could also cost the nation 14,000 jobs.
The constantly updating of policies and proposal to cut international student numbers is also an effort to curb the post-pandemic spike in migration. After clearing a backlog of student visa applications in 2022 and 2023, the resident student visa holder population rose to 674,000 by May 2024 – 58,000 more than the pre-COVID peak level. But by late 2023, the nation was hit with rising rents and shrinking accommodation availability, so the government hit the brakes on international education.
The Australian government now aims for the new laws to deter individuals from using student visas as a loophole to settle in the country. However, this is idea is flawed, as fewer than 20% of international students end up as permanent residents in Australia.
What’s next?
No one’s clear about how far the cap will go and which universities would be most affected. Some suggest that these changes could create a two-tier education system, where smaller colleges and universities get hit hard while the bigger ones come out mostly fine. But who knows?
Australia is one of the top locations for Singaporeans and Asians looking to study abroad. Obviously, now many international students are reconsidering an education in Australia, and looking elsewhere instead. Especially since some countries offer free tuition.
