Australia to Cap International Student Intake at 270,000 for 2025

This will bring the number of new international student commencements pre-pandemic levels.

Lena Karmel Hall at the Australian National University (ANU) is seen in Canberra, Australia, on Aug. 13, 2021. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

The new international student intake will be capped at 270,000 for the calendar year 2025, according to a government release issued on Aug. 27.

“Subject to the passage of legislation before Parliament, it will set a National Planning Level (NPL) for new international student commencements of 270,000 for the calendar year 2025,” Education Minister Jason Clare said in a joint statement.

The government said this will bring the number of new international student commencements across higher education and VET back to pre-pandemic levels.

For publicly funded universities, this will result in around 145,000 new international student commencements in 2025, which is around 2023 levels.

Speaking to the media, Clare said there are roughly 10 percent more international students in universities than before the COVID-19 pandemic and 50 percent more in private VET providers.

“Students are back, but so are the stocks of people that are seeking to exploit this industry to make a quick buck,” he told reporters.

The NPL is divided between the higher education and vocational education and training (VET) sectors.

However, the NPL has a few exclusions. School students, higher degree by research students, students undertaking standalone English language courses (ELICOS), non-award students, Australian government-sponsored scholars, students that are part of an Australian transnational education arrangement or twinning arrangement, key partner foreign government scholarship holders, and students from the Pacific and Timor-Leste are excluded from the NPL.

This move will come as a big relief for institutes running courses specifically for the English language.

Speaking at a Senate inquiry on education and employment, Ian Aird, CEO of English Australia, said their business consisted of 90 percent international students and that a cap would be a disaster for their sector.

“It will curtail the activity that we have overseas. We’ve created an industry. We’ve created a whole job sector. It’s taken us 30 years to do this,” he said on Aug. 26.

International Student Profile

Going forward, individual limits will be outlined in an International Student Profile (ISP). Publicly funded universities have been provided with their indicative ISPs.

“In developing ISPs, a number of factors have been considered based on data provided by universities, including recent levels of new international student commencements and the concentration of international enrolments in their onshore student cohorts,” Clare said.

From 2026, the Albanese government will encourage universities to create new supplies of student housing to benefit both domestic and international students and support their future growth.

Other universities and non-university higher education providers will have around 30,000 new international student commencements in 2025.

For vocational education and training (VET), this number would be around 95,000 student commencements in 2025.

“Providers with a higher ratio of international students will receive a lower allocation, encouraging them to diversify their student base,” the minister said.

University Responses to International Student Cap

Responding to the announcement, universities said they are still assessing the exact impact of the cap.

A spokesperson for the Australian National University told The Epoch Times that the move will mean “a reduction” in commencing international student numbers from next year, as will be the case for many Australian universities.

“The exact numbers are still subject to data verification between universities and the Department of Education, and we are working through what this means for our community, including its financial impact,” said the spokesperson.

A University of Sydney spokesperson said they will now carefully work through the details to assess the likely impact of the announcement on their core operations of education, research, and community.

“We’ll continue to work collaboratively with governments and the sector on the managed growth of international higher education, one of Australia’s most valuable exports,” they told The Epoch Times.

Meanwhile, a Monash University spokesperson said they had just received its indicative student limit.

“We are currently working to understand the rationale supporting the figure provided and the subsequent full implications of the government’s announcement,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

“Monash will continue to deliver outstanding educational experiences to all our students, regardless of these proposed restrictions. We will also continue to advocate for policies that recognise the significant contributions international students make to Australia’s academic and broader communities.”

Replacing Ministerial Direction 107

Ministerial Direction 107—the framework that prioritises students applying to low-risk institutions, meaning their visas are processed faster—will be replaced on Jan. 1, 2025, subject to the passage of legislation.

During the public hearing on the proposed legislation, universities across Australia demanded the immediate scrapping of the framework.

“We’ve been hit very badly by Ministerial Direction 107. As of last week, we calculated a total number of 2,333 missing students, students who would otherwise have attended, equating to around $289 million in lost income for the semester,” Ant Bagshaw, Executive Director of the Australian Technology Network of Universities, told the Senate committee on Aug. 26.