Australian government denies media reports of 40% cap on international students

While there is immense fear in the university sector about the Australian government's plan to place a 40% cap on international student numbers, the government has said that there is no truth in the reports that they are planning to place any such cap on international students.

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Study in Australia: Australian Education Minister Jason Clare has said that the government is not planning to place a 40% cap on the international students number as claimed by the media reports.

This was first reported by the Australian Financial Review. The minister said that international education is an extremely important national asset, and “what we’re doing is making sure we protect the integrity of the system – and that is important – but also protecting the social licence for the system to continue to operate,” as reported by The Pie News.

Reportedly, at the senate hearings recently, this proposed 40% cap on international students was discussed and the Independent Higher Education Australia CEO Peter Hendry had said during the meeting that such an extreme measure would pose an “existential threat” to private institutions which receive no government funding and hence they are highly dependent on the funds collected from the international students.

University sector apprised senate hearing of the risks of capping international students

Recently, the vice-chancellors of various universities including the University of Melbourne appeared before a Senate Inquiry into the Federal Government’s Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment Bill and talked about the various risks it poses to cap international student numbers.

They highlighted that international education is a prized national asset in Australia and it contributes significantly to the country's social, economic and diplomatic success.

Go8 chief executive Vicki Thomson also talked about the damaging impact the government's proposed cap will have on the sector.

“We very clearly, with no ambiguity, do not support a blunt cap on international students. The Group of Eight estimate that capping international student enrolments to pre-pandemic levels of 2019 for Go8 members against 2023 post-pandemic enrolment figures would cost the nation over $5.3bn in economic output and over 22,500 jobs in the economy," she said.

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