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Growth in Australia’s overseas student enrollments could fall to one-seventh of its post-pandemic peak, it said, as the government tries to play down perceptions of its support for unbridled population growth.
Immigration expert Abul Rizvi said if Australia was to meet its net migration target of 235,000, students would contribute no more than 40,000 people a year to net migration, down from the “historically unheard” figure of nearly 270,000 in 2022-23. It has the tacit approval of both major political parties.
Dr Rizvi told a forum organized by the University of Melbourne’s Center for Higher Education Research that upcoming policy changes – including increased English language requirements and “real student” testing – would help curb student numbers.
Meanwhile, immigration officials have been “increasing the intensity of student visa denials” by making subjective decisions based on existing Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) tests. He said additional “austerity measures” later in the year would further depress student enrollments.
But the changes were not enough to reduce net student enrollment to 40,000. “The government will have to make further cuts. In the context of the 2025 election, it will have to make further cuts over time to demonstrate that it is not pursuing a ‘Greater Australia’ policy.”
In the three years before the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of overseas students in higher education alone increased by more than 40,000 per year. Dr. Rizvi’s net growth is not just for higher education but also for vocational training, English colleges and schools.
He said the government deserves credit for replacing the GTE requirement with a real student exam. “But I don’t think it’s going to change much [visa] Rejection rate. The rejection rate is simply based on different subjective criteria, albeit a slightly better one. “
The new test applies to visa applications submitted from March 23. Instead of providing a 300-word statement stating they have no intention of staying in Australia after completing their course, applicants will now need to answer a series of “targeted questions” including why they chose the country and what they expect to gain from their studies. benefits received and details of their family and community connections.
The Independent Tertiary Education Council of Australia said its members were notified of the new arrangements just eight days ago. “This is completely unacceptable,” Chief Executive Troy Williams said. He said the real student exams were “one of the most significant changes to the student visa framework in more than eight years”.
Higher education consultant Claire Field said the test would mainly affect vocational education, rather than higher education. She said foreigners seeking a vocational study visa might struggle to convince immigration officials of its benefits because Australian vocational qualifications – unlike degrees – were not widely recognized around the world.
But Ms Field said Canberra would still be able to curb tertiary student numbers if it chose to do so. She said officials have been denying visa applications that would never have been refused in the past and that could still happen under the new test. “If the government wants to reduce the number of students entering higher education, it will find a way,” she told the forum.
Dr Rizvi said the government was going “back to the future” by implementing genuine student demands. Similar tests were used “as a backstop” in the 2000s, resulting in only a small number of visas being refused. “We’ve turned the tables. We now have GTE tests and real student tests as the primary means of decision-making. This is fundamentally bad public policy.”
He said the government should stop using “subjective criteria” to deny student visas. “This results in a huge waste of resources on the part of students, universities and governments. It’s a huge waste of students’ time, especially if they are completing a third degree and then being rejected because…it’s nothing more than a whim.”
john.ross@timeshighereducation.com
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