Education giant IDP hit amid crackdown on international students
One of Australia’s biggest private education providers warns its profit will be cut in half as countries around the world ditch the welcome mat for international students.
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One of Australia’s biggest private education providers has warned its profit will be cut in half this year as countries around the world withdrew the welcome mat for international students.
IDP Education chief executive Tennealle O’Shannessy said on Tuesday that the Melbourne-based company’s key destination markets – the UK, the US, Australia and Canada – faced continued headwinds due to policy uncertainty around the intake of international students. The company’s share price sank nearly 45 per cent to $4.12.
The Trump administration is suspending student visas in the US, while in the UK further restrictions are expected. Restrictive policies in Australia and Canada also remain owing to “policy volatility” around foreign student intake.
The evolving situation means IDP, which provides study assistance, testing, visas and migration services to international students, has slashed its full-year earnings guidance to a range of $115m to $125m, down from $239m in 2024.
Student placement volumes are expected to slump by about 28 per cent to 30 per cent, with its lucrative language-testing business dropping by 18 per cent to 20 per cent. The impact on revenue will be partially mitigated by continued strong average fee growth.
Ms O’Shannessy said foreign students in the UK were seeing heightened uncertainty after the release of an immigration policy white paper, which aims to create an immigration system that “promotes growth but is controlled and managed”.
In the US, the environment has become increasingly negative, with the Trump administration suspending student visas globally and getting more “aggressive” on Chinese students.
Thousands of Australian academics and students also have been caught up in Donald Trump’s ban on “aliens” attending American universities, after the US President froze new visa processing last month.
Restrictive policies in Australia and Canada also remained, with both countries attempting to cap foreign student visas after a surge in applications following the Covid-19 pandemic. International education was worth $47.8bn to the Australian economy last year, but the money-spinning sector has increasingly been caught up in a political battle.
“The recent elections in Australia and Canada saw the existing parties re-elected,” Ms O’Shannessy said. “What we will be looking now for is a return to a more stable policy environment, and I think that was quite difficult to achieve pre-election.
“For Australia and Canada, we haven’t had any policy changes communicated. We’re still operating under the current restrictive environment, but we’re watching closely for any updates that might come.”
Ms O’Shannessy said the company recognised the need to reduce and restructure its cost base to weather the current uncertain policy environment.
She said the company remained confident in the long-term future of the international education market, even as governments in its key markets seek to temporarily reduce migration levels.
“What needs to be in place is very much a stable and certain policy environment and a welcoming rhetoric for students,” she said. “If we think about it from a student perspective, they’re making a very significant investment of not only money but time in their future.
“They need to have that stability and certainty to understand that they’ll get the return on investment that they’re looking for.
“We work very closely with the sector to share firstly our unique data and insights to form a really informed view of the current impact of policy settings, and to ensure that there is a student voice brought to any political policy debates.”
Ms O’Shannessy said IDP would also be able to use its global footprint to deliver positive messages to students when conditions do eventually stabilise.
“We’ve been able to do that really effectively in the UK, where we’ve set up well-attended webinars where we’ve had representatives from the UK government, from the sector and leading universities really talking to the strong return on investment that students can expect from a university education in the UK.”
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Originally published as Education giant IDP hit amid crackdown on international students
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