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.
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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.