Government to cap number of new foreign students to 270,000 next year

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The government has put a cap on the number of international students in Australia as part of efforts to reduce overall migration to pre-pandemic levels. The education minister says the changes make the sector better and fairer.

Transcript

00:00One of the nation's biggest exports...

00:05It makes us money and it makes us friends.

00:08International student numbers are being capped.

00:11This is just about setting the system up in a better and a fairer way.

00:15Under the plan, the number of full fee paying international students

00:19able to start study at Australian universities and vocational institutions

00:25would be capped at 270,000 next year.

00:29That's a drop of about 50,000 from last year,

00:33when numbers were about 323,000

00:37and sets figures close to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

00:41I think that that's not right.

00:44I think it's really concerning.

00:45I don't want them to run out of money and then start cutting stuff.

00:48Universities told individually how much they'll be constrained,

00:51warning the economic impact will be substantial

00:55in the $48 billion a year higher education market.

01:00A cut means less revenue, it means less students coming to Australia

01:04and that has a knock-on effect.

01:06I have friends from overseas who are already considering

01:10going to other destinations which are slightly more welcoming.

01:13Larger city universities with a higher proportion of international students

01:18will be the most affected.

01:20Regional universities will be allowed to enrol more.

01:23This is really making up for pretty devastating,

01:26unintended consequences of previous policy regimes.

01:29Since Labor was elected, the number of foreign students

01:32coming into the country has more than doubled

01:35and that's placed enormous pressure, particularly on the housing market.

01:39Capping international student numbers is a centrepiece

01:42of the government's move to drive down overall migration,

01:45a point of bipartisan agreement.

01:48But beyond that, there's little consensus,

01:51especially on what these reductions will mean

01:53for the hot housing and rental markets.

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