Government to impose caps on international student numbers

The Albanese government will attempt to cut migration by limiting the number of international students under a new cap system.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil. Picture: Martin Ollman

In a move to cut migration, the Albanese government will limit the influx of international students by capping the number of new students enrolling at each university or college.

The measure is aimed at neutralising before the next election the political damage the government is suffering from high migration rates.

It will particularly impact the big five universities – Sydney, Melbourne, NSW, Monash, and Queensland – which are still enrolling large numbers of international students despite the government’s deliberate slowdown in student visa processing – which started in December – in an effort to reduce Australia’s record net migration rate.

But the big universities have dodged their worst nightmare of a hard cap on student numbers. The new measure is a softer cap that will allow institutions to negotiate a higher cap if they build new student accommodation for domestic as well as international students, easing pressure on the rental market.

The government also intends to negotiate with universities and colleges to limit the number of international students enrolled over a particular period.

The cap on international students will be in legislation that will go to parliament in the coming week and which will also crack down on shonky vocational colleges that have exploited gaps in international student regulations.

Labor’s bill will also stop colleges from owning education agent businesses, pause the registration of new international education providers, require new providers to have a track record of quality education for domestic students before enrolling international students, and prevent colleges under serious regulatory investigation from enrolling new students

The government will also prevent education agents from taking commissions on international students who transfer between education providers in Australia.

The government’s decision to press ahead with placing limits on international student numbers is a setback for the international student sector, which has been fighting for months against the campaign by Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil to use caps as a nuclear option to rapidly reduce the politically sensitive migration rate.

But the soft cap will be seen by the industry as better than the alternative of a rigid limit on student numbers.

Education Minister Jason Clare said the changes were “designed to ensure the integrity, quality and ongoing sustainability” of Australia’s international education sector.

The University of Sydney is seen as a particular target of the new policy. It has used favourable rules applying to universities with low visa risk to massively expand its international student intake this year.

Sydney had more than 13,000 visas issued for international students who started in the first semester this year compared to about 8000 last year.

The federal budget is also understood to include plans for a discussion paper examining the critical shortage of student housing. Sources said the discussion paper would examine options to alleviate housing stress and the role of universities in addressing the crisis.

The announcement comes after months of mounting political pressure on Labor to address the housing shortage, which has been blamed on record numbers of international students.

In the budget, Mr Clare is also widely expected to announce the rollout of fee-free preparatory courses to assist students to study at university by preparing them for entry, as was recommended in the Universities Accord.

The review proposed the introduction of free courses for students with a commonwealth place to study at university, including online courses for subjects such as maths, which are “needed for specialist tertiary education entry”.

The budget is also expected to announce a new review of university research funding.