Australia caps foreign students enrollment to 2,70,000 for 2025 in migration crackdown

NEW DELHI: The Australian government has announced a cap on its intake of foreign students for the academic year 2025 as part of a measure to manage the migration levels that has led to increase in home rental prices. Under the new policy, the country will limit the number of foreign students to 2,70,000 for next year.

The enrolment number of new international students will be limited to 145,000 for universities and 95,000 for the practical and skills-based courses for 2025.

“Subject to the bill passing, the overall number of students starting a course next year will be set at 2,70,000. This includes higher educational courses and vocational education and training courses. Now, what this means is that from next year there will be about the same number of international students starting a course here as they were before the pandemic. There will be more in our universities and fewer in our private vocational providers,” the Australian education minister Jason Clare said in a press conference.

As per the statement, there are about 10% more international students in Australian universities today than before the COVID-19 pandemic and about 50% more in private vocational and training providers.

Referring to those who exploit the schemes to earn ‘quick buck’, the education minister said that the government is implementing a number of reforms to tackle the issue.

Also read Study in Australia: No more visa hopping by international students from July 1

New visa policy for foreign students

The new migration policy was proposed in December last year to bring down a record 5,10,000 people, who came to Australia in the year to June 2023, by 50%. In a detailed report - Migration Strategy: Getting migration working for the nation - plans for restricting graduates from applying for a vocational study visa after their post-study visa expires and many others were listed to halve the intake.

The report highlighted that 50% of the graduate visa holders were working in low-skilled jobs resulting in around 19,000 students and graduates staying in Australia for nine or more years under temporary visa status. It further proposed a ‘Genuine Student Test’, an eligibility test to identify the legitimate purpose for their temporary stay, to obtain a study visa.

Following this in June 2024, the Australian government announced that visitor visa holders will not be allowed to apply for student visas while in Australia; starting from July 1, 2024. The move was made to keep a check on visa hopping by international students.

Moreover, the student visa application fee was substantially increased to 1,600 Australian dollars, a hike of 225% compared to the previous year’s fee of 710 AUS dollars.