Canberra unveils ‘measured’ international education reforms

Australia’s overhaul of overseas enrolment rules coincides with changes elsewhere, as a post-Covid upsurge in cross-border mobility reshapes the global international education landscape.

As anticipated, Canberra has closed a loophole allowing prospective foreign students to enrol in multiple courses. Thousands of people had exploited this arrangement to obtain work rights, enrolling with universities to secure visas and then switching to cheaper vocational courses after arriving in Australia.

Concurrent enrolments between January and June were at roughly triple the levels of recent years, according to home affairs minister Clare O’Neil. “The party is over,” she said. “The rorts and loopholes that have plagued this system will be shut down.”

The government has also increased the amount of money students must have available to cover their living costs, in the first such change since 2019. From 1 October, Australia-bound students will need to demonstrate that they have A$24,505 (£12,505) in savings, up from A$21,041 at present. Ms O’Neil said the new requirement would help to shield foreign students from exploitative bosses.

In other changes mainly targeting vocational education, the government is preparing to use existing powers to suspend “high-risk” colleges. It is particularly concerned about 200-plus providers enrolling students who are more likely to be denied than granted visas.

The government said it would also apply “additional scrutiny” and demand extra documentation from “high-risk cohorts” in an effort to prevent visa fraud. The scrutiny is already intense. Three quarters or more of those who apply for vocational education visas from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are rejected.

Nevertheless, the post-Covid period has seen a pronounced shift in focus from East Asia to the subcontinent. South Asia contributed one third of international enrolments in Australia over the first five months of 2023, compared with about one quarter in the equivalent period of 2019.

Over the same period, China’s share has fallen from well over one quarter to about one fifth of enrolments, and less than one sixth of new students.

Similar patterns are evident elsewhere. In Canada, 45 per cent of the study permits activated in the first half of 2023 went to people from South Asia, up from 31 per cent over the equivalent period in 2019. China’s share plunged from 25 per cent to just 9 per cent.

More than 225,000 Indian nationals obtained approval to study in Canada in 2022, around seven times as many as in 2015.

In the UK, more than 140,000 sponsored study visas were issued to Indian nationals in the year to June 2023 – around seven times the 2019 figure. The Chinese tally of about 110,000 visas was roughly the same as in 2019.

Surging South Asian enrolments have coincided with policy crackdowns fuelled by perceptions that international students are monopolising scarce resources. The UK government has raised students’ visa and healthcare fees and banned most students from bringing dependants, among other measures.

In Canada, housing minister Sean Fraser reportedly proposed a student cap as a way of managing extreme housing shortages. Australia’s shadow education minister Sarah Henderson has also warned that increasing overseas enrolments will have “big consequences for domestic students who need access to strong job prospects and affordable housing”.

While the UK changes have outraged educators, Australia’s reforms to date have won praise for their restraint. The Australian Technology Network said the new rules would ensure that international education was “better protected and future-proofed”.

The Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI) said concurrent enrolments had enabled “onshore poaching”. AAERI president Nishidhar Borra said the impacts on student retention had been a “serious” concern for agents. “The changes will benefit all,” he said.

The Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA) said the changes so far were a “measured response” and the government must continue in this vein. “It’s clear that more reform is on the way,” noted chief executive Troy Williams.

Further changes in response to two government-commissioned reviews are expected to be announced in September or October.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com