‘Enriches the vibe’: Uni students speak out against international student cuts
Uni students have offered their unfiltered views on whether or not Australia should radically reduce the amount of foreign students allowed into the country.
Economy
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University students have hit out at proposed cuts to international students, insisting they bring in much-needed cash and enrich the campus “vibe”.
“I don’t think it’s very necessary — they bring a lot to funding for universities like this,” said Lucas Plumburn, a 20-year-old engineering student at University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
Mr Plumburn, a domestic student, added it could be a factor in which way he votes next month.
With Australia’s record immigration intake emerging as a key election issue, both major parties are seeking to rein in international student numbers that have made up the lion’s share of recent arrivals.
The government last year tried legislating international student caps, but was defeated by the Coalition and the Greens.
Labor then moved to plan B by slowing down visa processing, amounting to a de facto cap that has already led to massive budget and staff cuts at major universities.
Western Sydney University last week announced it was expected to cut up to 400 jobs due to a deficit now forecast to reach $79 million in 2026. The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) also plans to cut some 400 jobs, and the ANU could slash up to 650 positions.
“The international student caps are hitting our university hard,” Western Sydney University Vice chancellor Professor George Williams said last week.
Peter Dutton has since proposed even harsher caps than Labor.
The opposition leader is pledging to cut total numbers by 80,000, with a cap of 240,000 overseas student commencements each year.
Public universities would be limited to 115,000, with 125,000 places available for the vocational, private university and non-university higher education sectors.
Capping international students at 25 per cent of the student population would deliver a crippling blow to some of the country’s top universities.
The University of Sydney, which has the largest proportion of international students at nearly 50 per cent, would stand to lose close to $900 million a year.
Collectively the large universities would be forced to cut 80,000 students, at a cost of $2.9 billion in lost revenue, according to analysis by the Mitchell Institute.
Many students say they do not support the caps.
News.com.au spoke to six UTS students, who nearly all agreed they were a bad idea.
“I don’t agree [with the proposal],” said Julianna Von Haider, 23, a forensic science student from the Netherlands.
“It’s very important to have different cultures in a city and I think international students can bring a lot of life … maybe I’m biased because I’m international.”
German student Moritz Muzer, 22, studying a master’s in computer science, said international students “definitely [add] to the culture around universities”.
“Me as an international student obviously I want to come to Australia and experience all of that, it’s awesome, I enjoy it a lot,” he said.
“It’s hard for me to say because I don’t experience the negative aspects that might happen because of that.”
He added, “In Germany there are some international students but definitely not coming close to the amount of international students in Australia so it’s hard to tell for me, I like international students in Germany from other countries but it’s not getting close to the amount here.”
Marketing student Emma Lendring, 25, also from Netherlands, said universities in her home country were also trying to reduce international student numbers and “that’s something I do not agree with”.
“I think it would be a shame to cut down the number of international students, because I think people from different cultures, different background can bring different perspectives, which can be renewing and I think together could build new insights and new projects,” she said.
“So I think it would be a shame.”
Sal Burge, 19, studying environmental sciences, said universities were “still scrambling to get a bit more income since the Covid pandemic”.
“International students are a huge point of income for the unis so from that side it doesn’t really make any sense,” she said.
“It also just enriches the general vibe, diversity and the fun of the social element of university.”
She said it would “for sure” influence her vote in the upcoming election. “It’s definitely a contributing factor but it’s not my be all and end all,” she said.
But PhD physics student Sergei Nedic, 24, was on the fence.
“I’m neither here nor there, I’m pretty much dead centre on the issue,” he said.
“Both sides have equally good arguments so you can make a good argument for either side. It would have to be pretty strong evidence from one side or the other [to sway that].”
Originally published as ‘Enriches the vibe’: Uni students speak out against international student cuts
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