New international students cap in Australia to replace Ministerial Direction 107

Ministerial Direction 107 has provided benefits to some universities and also resulted in difficulties for various other universities.

Study in Australia: Amid the ongoing speculation about the new international student enrollment cap in Australia, Education Minister Jason Clare said that the new cap will replace the Ministerial Direction 107 which was introduced in December 2023. He said that more details about this will be shared in the coming week.

He said this at the Australian Financial Review's Higher Education Summit in Sydney. Clare said that after the implementation of Ministerial Direction 107, universities faced issues of more visa cancellations and slower visa processing.

Jason Clare noted that the number of foreign students in Australia has increased to 810, 960 from 521,831 over the last two years. He said that mostly increase was seen in the vocational education and training courses which shows that the migrants were more interested in working in Australia than studying.

“A lot has changed over the last two years. Two years ago there were 521,831 international student enrolments in Australia. Today there are 810,960," he said, as reported by the Pie News.

“It’s why a lot of universities have asked me to act to put more sustainable arrangements in place. I know universities and other international education providers are craving detail. That detail will be provided to universities in the coming week. I know there is a lot happening and I know change can be difficult. And this is just one part of the education system. I am also driving the same sort of reform in school education and early education,” said Clare.

Australian government dismissed 40% cap on international students

He also said that the government is not going to implement a 40% cap on enrollment of international students but has also not revealed the exact number. He said that the government's focus is on finding a balance that strengthens Australia's relationship with other countries and also supports the sector.

In an interview with AFR, he talked more about ministerial direction 107 and said, "the current system prioritising visas for low-risk providers is effectively throttling the system right now and that anybody who works at a university or works in the sector would know that before commenting that a cap on international enrolments is designed to replace it as a better mechanism."

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