English language colleges fear impact of migration package

English language colleges fear the federal government’s migration reforms will drive international students away from Australia.

The federal government’s migration package aims to slow down arrivals of international students. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

English language colleges fear the federal government’s migration reforms will drive international students away from Australia to do their language training overseas following the decision to raise the English language standard required to start a course.

The migration package, released on Monday, increased the required level of language proficiency for many international students, including those who enrol in an English college in Australia to improve their language skills before commencing their main qualification.

Brett Blacker, CEO of English Australia, which represents over 110 English colleges, said raising the required proficiency level of those starting an English course from a 4.5 IELTS test score to 5.0 would particularly hit students who enrolled in vocational courses with private colleges and TAFEs.

The potential blow to English language colleges comes after they enrolled record numbers of international students this year, after bouncing back from Covid when student numbers dropped by more than two-thirds.

Mr Blacker said the changes could lead to Australia being less competitive.

“The educational institutions that will be most impacted will be the vocational education providers, including public TAFE,” he said.

Universities won’t feel the same impact because most international students heading for university who need English tuition already have an IELTS score of 5.5.

However, TAFE colleges say the migration reforms have their overall support. “We think it (the higher level of English proficiency) will produce better-quality students,” said Jenny Dodd, CEO of TAFE Directors Australia, which represents the sector.

The government said it would “apply greater and more targeted scrutiny” to visa applications from students enrolling with educational institutions with a high visa risk rating, based on their past performance.

Both English Australia and TAFE Directors Australia welcomed this move.

Several government reports have warned about law-breaking by some private colleges that enrol international students, including “ghost colleges” that enrol fake students who come to Australia to work rather than study.

The migration package includes measures to crack down on such abuses, including a genuine student test, and a slowdown in visa processing for educational institutions with high risk ratings.

International Education Association of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood said there were winners and losers from the migration package but the overall strategy was needed in order to focus on quality international students.