Australia is capping new international students next year, in an effort to curb record migration.
The country plans to limit international student enrollments to 270,000 in 2025, Australian education minister announced on Tuesday. In 2023, there were just over 400,000 new international students.
“There’s about 10% more international students in our universities today than before the pandemic, and about 50% more in our private vocational and training providers,” education minister Jason Clare said in a press briefing on Tuesday. “These reforms are designed to make it better and fairer, and set it up on a more sustainable footing going forward.”
The government will assign each university or vocational institute an individual limit.
Australia has about 718,000 total international students, primarily from China, India, and Nepal, according to 2024 education department figures.
Curbs on migration were first announced in December, when Australia said it would tighten visa scrutiny for graduates and require students to secure higher scores on their English proficiency tests.
The restrictions come after a period of concessions to encourage foreign workers and students who left during the pandemic to return to Australia. That created an influx of foreigners, which worsened the pressure on the country’s tight rental market.
Clare added that the restrictions will also limit the amount of “shonks” — people and businesses exploiting the demand for international education in Australia. Authorities have previously said that some providers participate in unethical practices or scams, such as recruiting students who are not proficient enough in English to do well, luring students with the promises of jobs, or promising tuition fee discounts to those who recruit other students.
Canada announced similar limitations earlier this year, in an effort to bring down the costs of buying and renting homes.
Canada’s immigration agency said in January that it will cap the number of acceptances for international study permits. The move is expected to cut the number of students by 35% compared to last year and reduce the number of “puppy mills” that provide poor-quality education.
According to a study by education consultant IDP, the US, Australia, the UK, and Canada are hotspots for those seeking international education, with countries like Germany, New Zealand, and Ireland gaining interest in recent years.
Since May 2023, the UK has clamped down on international students bringing their families on all student visas, except postgraduate research and those with government scholarships. The changes have also reduced the number of people using student passes as a loophole to work. The government forecast that the changes would lead to 140,000 fewer people coming to the country.
In the US, dwindling chances of landing a work visa after graduation because of the H-1B lottery system have made the country less attractive for some foreign students. A Trump-era executive order denying visas to Chinese graduate students also slashed the number of enrollments.
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