Universities face ban for breaching international student caps

Universities which exceed their government assigned limits on international students will face a year’s ban on enrolling more overseas pupils.

Danish University of Sydney international students Michael Jeldorf, left, and Mathilde Vendelin. Picture: Jane Dempster

Universities which exceed their government assigned limits on international students will face a year’s ban on enrolling more overseas pupils, amid a push by the Albanese government to use the education sector to curb net migration.

Higher education providers will have their registration to enrol foreign students “automatically suspended” if they overstep their limit, in a move that has stoked concerns in the sector that the caps will lead to job losses and further damage the industry’s reputation overseas.

Education Minister Jason Clare introduced the legislation on Thursday, forming the first step towards implementing the limits on international student numbers at universities and vocational providers, along with a string of other measures to clean up the tertiary sector.

The legislation did not include details of what the limits would be for providers, only that the education minister would have the power to set the maximum number of overseas students which can be enrolled in a provider, class of provider or course per year. The minister can also set a course enrolment limit through regulation or by a notice sent to the provider, according to the explanatory memorandum.

International students in Australia have soared to record numbers in the wake of the pandemic, igniting a debate over the nation’s skyrocketing net migration which surpassed 500,000 people and the impact on housing.

Mr Clare said the bill would provide “long term certainty” for the sector and foster “sustainable growth”, and called out the “shonks and crooks” which had plagued the industry and exploited students. “In setting enrolment limits, the Minister for Education will take into account the relevance of courses to Australia’s skills needs,” he said. “An additional consideration for the Minister for Education when setting limits will be the supply of purpose built student accommodation available to both domestic and international students.”

International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood said the new powers would provide Mr Clare with a “never before seen ability to out do the regulator in interventions” following a flurry of onerous new regulations being imposed on the industry in the last year. “These are massive interventions in our beleaguered sector,” he said.

Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy indicated he held some concerns about the legislation, adding that the government was “committed to a co-design process with the sector and we expect it to act in good faith”. “There are aspects of the bill, as drafted, that are contrary to risk-based and proportionate regulation and could work against the shared goals of universities and the government,” he said.

Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson said the sector would consult with the government to agree on the exact number of students to be permitted under the caps. “The government has said it will consult and whatever the consultation outcome, Go8 universities have no intention of breaching that agreement,” she said.

Under other measures to cull “dodgy” operators, new tertiary providers will be barred from recruiting overseas students for their first two years and institutions which do not enrol any foreign students for a year will be suspended. The bill also clarifies the role of education providers and strengthens the “fit and proper test” to weed out the unscrupulous, which focus on recruiting what the government calls “non-genuine students” who are primarily focused on work rights rather than study.