Under the draft International Education and Skills Strategic Framework, limits on the number of international student education providers who can register will come into effect from 1 January 2025.
Violation of these numbers will result in severe penalties, including a ban on registration for 12 months.
The announcement continued to draw criticism from many in the industry, who argued that the new framework was a heartless response to a problem that requires critical thinking and long-term solutions.
“I can’t see the cap coming [being] This is something other than a relatively short-term stopgap measure,” said former Immigration Minister Abul Rizvi.
“The stakes in terms of the capabilities of providers and the ability of students to plan for their future are really difficult in a cap environment. They don’t know what their limits will be and I think some of them will panic and try to get their applications in before January 1, 2025,” he told The PIE.
Can't see Cap approaching [being] Something other than a relatively short-term stopgap measure.
Abul Rizvi
Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia chief executive Troy Williams said job losses were already occurring across the sector as a result of the new approach and were expected to continue next year. .
“Current visa processing measures are causing an alarming increase in job losses at independent skills training and higher education providers supporting international students.
“This has been devastating for individuals who have lost their jobs, and the loss of expertise across the sector has been devastating. Over the next six months, ITECA expects to see an upward trend in terms of job losses and closures of high-quality suppliers,” Williams said.
In April 2024, the number of international students reached a record high of over 700,000, accounting for 25% of the country's 2.8 million temporary immigrants.
The measures introduced by the Australian government to encourage the return of international students after COVID-19, such as relaxing the working hours allowed on student visas, are largely responsible. This led to a much larger influx of international students than expected, leading to concerns about the quality of education and controversy over who was responsible for the housing crisis.
According to Education Secretary Jason Clare, international students “have returned, but so have those who are trying to take advantage of them”.
“These reforms are designed to ensure the integrity, quality and ongoing sustainability of this vitally important sector,” Clare said.
Rather than relying on “blunt throttling tools” to reduce migration levels and weed out low-quality suppliers, Rizvi advised taking an approach that relies on supply and demand.
“There has to be a better way to ensure providers can compete with each other for students than having the government tell providers how many students they can have,” Rizvi said.
“No industry can run by just telling each business how many customers it can get, what kind of customers it can get, and what those customers can do. “It’s really strange.”
WiIliams added that Australia's reputation was also at risk.
“No matter how the Australian government seeks to change its current policy settings, as a country we risk long-term reputational damage and will no longer be considered a research destination of choice,” he told PIE.
“The new framework is still under development, but it looks like the Australian government wants to tell international students what they can study, where they can study it and when they can study it.”
As a result, such a short-sighted approach will leave the sector suffering, Williams argued.
“Some stakeholders predict that the number of international students wishing to study with quality skills training providers will fall by up to 80%, while the number of students entering higher education will also potentially fall by 25%.
“What is needed is an honest discussion about Australia’s population strategy and the sustainable numbers of overseas students within that strategy. “This is a failure of successive Australian governments to act,” he added.