Universities are a lucrative business in Australia. Peter Dutton wants to shake things up.

Australia’s eight biggest universities make a whopping $5.7bn a year from international students, but that could all change as Peter Dutton sets out to shake things up.

The nation’s eight biggest universities make as much money from international students a year as the total revenue of the National Broadband Network or Amazon’s entire Australian operation, as Peter Dutton announces a “crackdown” on the sector to reduce housing pressure.

The collection of Australian universities known as the Group of Eight, took in a whopping $5.7 billion in revenue from international student fees in 2023, which was slightly more than the $5.27bn made by the NBN in 2022-23, and almost as much as Amazon Australia’s $6bn, according to Coalition analysis of annual reports.

International students, who pay higher fees than Australians accessing HECS, make up on average 43.6 per cent of enrolments across the group, which includes ANU, University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, University of Queensland, Monash University, University of Adelaide, and University of WA.

The nation’s eight biggest universities made $5.7bn from international student fees in 2023 – more than NBN and almost as much as Amazon’s entire Australian operation. Picture: Damian Shaw

The Opposition leader’s announcement of a 25 per cent cap on international students that would bring numbers down to about 240,000 a year nationwide has been criticised by the universities, but Mr Dutton said his “main priority” was helping young Australians into houses.

“The international student market is a great and lucrative market for the universities, they’ve made literally billions of dollars over the last few years,” he said.

“But … when you’ve got 42 international students to one new accommodation place being built or unit being built, it doesn’t stack up.”

Universities Australia, the peak body for the sector, warned the Coalition’s policy would “take a sledgehammer” to one of the nation’s biggest income generators.

UA chief Luke Sheehy said international students contributed about $50bn to the economy and supported 250,000 jobs.

“Every dollar from international students is reinvested into the university system,” he said.

“Reducing that income stream will mean less support for Australian students, fewer research breakthroughs and fewer opportunities to grow.”

In the last three years the number of international students studying in Australia has gone up 65 per cent from the post-Covid low of 517,489 to more than 853,045 as of December.

Originally published as Universities are a lucrative business in Australia. Peter Dutton wants to shake things up.