CANBERRA – The government of Australia has brought in a fresh piece of legislation that would allow the introduction of a cap on international student visas, in another move that seems ‘anti-immigration’.
Over the weekend, the government announced the legislation to permit the education minister to set a maximum number of new international student enrolments education providers can offer.
The government would soon be able to decrease the number of international students at universities and in the vocational education and training sector through the fresh legislation that has sparked controversy.
The development comes on top of similar measures introduced by the government including tough English-language requirements and plans to create a new genuine student test to identify those looking to come to Australia primarily to work instead of study.
The government has announced the legislation to “support the integrity and sustainability of the international education sector”, months after Canada announced to reduce the number of international students by 35 percent as compared to 2023.
Apart from limiting the number of students, the education providers will also be prevented from holding ownership positions in education agencies. Moreover, registrations for new international education providers will be paused for up to 12 months as well as approvals of new courses proposed by existing registered providers.
The government’s measures also include institutions or schools seeking to register as international education providers to demonstrate “a track record of quality education delivery to domestic students before they are allowed to recruit international students”;
Meanwhile, the dormant provider registrations will be cancelled and registered providers under regulatory investigation will be banned from recruiting new international students.
The measures are comprehensive in the sense that there will be additional data sharing related to education agents and agent commissions on onshore student transfers will be prohibited, ICEF reported.
Earlier last week, the government increased the amount of savings students must demonstrate to at least A$29,710 to qualify for a visa.
This was the second increase in about seven months as the previous hike to A$24,505 from A$21,041 was announced in October.
