Labor facing growing resistance to international student caps

The fight over the future of Australia’s $48 billion international education market will come to a head this week as universities plead their case to the Albanese government to delay or dilute its plan to cap foreign enrolments.

Senior leaders from the big universities will converge on Canberra on Tuesday as a parliamentary committee holds hearings into the government’s contentious Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment Bill.

Australia’s most prestigious universities are pushing back on the federal government’s proposed caps on international students. Credit: Louie Douvis

But Education Minister Jason Clare is unlikely to be swayed. He told this masthead that the government was determined to legislate its caps in time for the 2025 academic year.

The exact levels of the caps on student numbers, which would also apply to private education providers and institutions like TAFE, have not yet been determined but are expected to be discussed by cabinet on Monday.

Lobby group Universities Australia claimed on Saturday that the uncertainty caused by Labor’s proposed changes had reduced enrolments by nearly 60,000 students, costing the economy as much as $4.3 billion.

Universities Australia has also cast further doubt on claims from both sides of politics that the presence of nearly a million international students in Australia – fewer than half of them enrolled in universities – was helping fuel the nation’s housing crisis.

Education Minister Jason Clare. Credit: Peter Rae

Sharon Pickering, vice chancellor of Monash University – which derived nearly $1.1 billion, or more than a third of its total revenue, from international students in 2023 – will plead her institution’s case before the Senate committee.

Pickering will argue that the introduction of the “hard cap” regime early next year will be unworkable and that the international education sector – Australia’s fourth-biggest export earner – helps financially underpin the nation’s world-class scientific research efforts.

Monash University, which undertakes 25 per cent of clinical trials in Australia, wants a range of amendments to the government’s bill and a delay in implementation until 2026.

The Group of Eight, an association of Australia’s wealthiest universities, last week demanded a meeting with newly appointed Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to request a “reset” to the government’s approach.

Vedant Gadhavi with his partner, Ayushi Patel. Credit: Simon Schluter

The universities are also working to reset community perceptions of their international students. Monash points to students like Vedant Gadhavi, president of its International Student Association, who juggles his biomedical science studies and welfare and advocacy work for his peers with shifts at Coles.

The Indian national – who organises regular lunches for struggling international students – has overcome the tragedy of losing both parents in a car crash when he was 18, to build a life in Melbourne with girlfriend and fellow student, Ayushi Patel.

Gadhavi says even with the government’s proposed legislation stuck at committee stage, uncertainty surrounds the 2025 academic year for many students. Labor’s decision to increase visa fees by more than 125 per cent to $1600 was starting to have an impact on existing and prospective international students.

“Some of my high school friends, who were planning to come to Australia for their masters studies, have changed their plans,” he said.

“Australia has become one of the countries with the highest application fees and those fees are non-refundable, just in case you don’t get your visa.

“With the high cost of living and the constant changes to visa rules and pathways, it gets a bit uncertain how the future looks in Australia.”

Pickering said the introduction of sweeping changes within just a few months to a higher education system that had developed over decades was going to cause enormous problems.

“If they want to introduce this in 2025, then they should have been planning for it a couple of years ago,” Pickering said.

Universities Australia claims the uncertainty caused by the proposed changes has already reduced enrolments by nearly 60,000 students, costing the economy as much as $4.3 billion.Credit: Oscar Colman

The economic, social and cultural contributions to local communities by international students had been largely overlooked in the debate around Labor’s planned changes, she said.

“We are enormously proud of the work that they do, the contributions they make to our university, and to our local communities, around our Clayton campus, around our Peninsula campus in Frankston, as well as around Caulfield and in Parkville. That they have become something of a political football is really unfortunate,” Pickering said.

Clare said the Labor government recognised international education as “a valuable national asset”.

“Our reforms will help to set it up for the future, ensuring quality and integrity and providing certainty for universities,” the minister said.

“This is a really important national asset … We are consulting with leaders from the international education sector to make sure we get the design and implementation of these critical reforms right.”

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