Australia's universities face international student enrolment drop by 95%

Leading policy experts have warned that Labor's proposed cap on international students is a recipe for chaos. With the government's efforts to bring down the migration numbers, the universities in Australia face cuts of international students between 60% to 95%.

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The Australian government's effort to bring down the migration numbers has resulted in a 60% to 95% decline in international student enrolments.

A new analysis suggested that under Peter Dutton's plan to crunch net temporary migration 160,000, just 10,000 to 15,000 international students could be admitted each year, which is equivalent to Sydney University's semester one intake, as reported by Financial Review.

He suggested that fewer migrants means fewer people needing housing amid a housing crisis.

The analysis by The Australian Financial Review suggested that new international student enrolments would be reduced to levels not seen for at least two decades. Both major parties of Australia have recommended caps on international students' immigration.

Last week a bill was introduced in parliament by Education Minister Jason Clare which would give him the power to set a maximum number of new international student enrolments. The changes are aimed at ensuring international education “delivers the greatest benefit to Australia, whilst maintaining its social licence," argued Clare, as reported by The Guardian.

Labour wants to reduce the net annual migration in 2025 to 260,000, but higher education and immigration experts have criticised this plan.

“It’s quite extraordinary [policy] and all about getting to the 2025 election. The levels of intervention exceed anything I’ve ever seen in any other industry. This gives them the power to tell a business how many customers you can have, what they can buy from you and how much. The power and its use is unsustainable. You can’t run an industry this way," said former immigration department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi.

Messages circulating on social media regarding Australian migrants

“We should not be bringing in more migrants while Australia is in a housing crisis. There are 700,000 international students in the country right now. Let's look at using our offshore study model to ease up housing demand for Australians,” reads a message on X.

“Australians have a greater right to housing than international students have to studying here. Canberra's caps on international students are pathetically weak and won't solve the housing crisis,” said another message on X.

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