International students have becomecentral to Labor’s plan to slash net migration from 520,000 in 2023 to 260,000 by June next year.
The bill to cap international students,introduced to parliament in May,was a significant escalation of the government’s bid to reduce foreign enrolments,which rebounded strongly after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proposed legislation would give Education Minister Jason Clare sweeping powers to cap international student numbers at both an institution and course level.
Universities and other higher education providers are expecting to be told this week what next year’s proposed caps are.
Treasury officials told the hearings they had not undertaken detailed modelling on the impact of the caps on Australia’s economy,but would do so after they are announced.
After the hearings,Group of Eight universities chief executive Vicki Thomson labelled this a “scandalous admission” that showed international education was the subject of a “reckless gamble” by government.
University of NSW chief Attila Brungs said the institution had been forced to halt enrolment for three popular degrees due to uncertainty about the caps.
“That will have long-term ramifications for those courses. They won’t come back for three to four years,” he said.
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“The international education market is such a complex,such a large and long-term thing,making changes at this late stage is very problematic to Australia’s reputation.”
Western Sydney University vice chancellor George Williams,a constitutional lawyer,said the international student caps bill was poorly drafted and not fit to be passed.
“When I look at this bill it’s remarkable in many respects … the concentration of power is surprising,” he said.
“It’s unfettered,coercive and being concentrated in a minister in a way that you would normally associate,in my experience,with a biosecurity act or a piece of national security legislation.
“You would not expect it in a piece of industry policy,particularly something directed at higher education.”
Education Department deputy secretary Ben Rimmer said he was confident providers would “find it possible to live with” the caps when they received them.