Australia’s Education Minister Jason Clare announced a significant increase in the number of international student places available in the country. 800,000 increase, but the new National Planning Level will enable us to plan for only 295,000 international students enrolling by 2026. With this move, environmentally-conscious growth puts its best foot forward. It addresses priority areas including student housing and engagement with countries in Southeast Asia.
The increase in student places reflects a response to ongoing disruptions in the global market, particularly stemming from Donald Trump’s presidency in the United States. Phil Honeywood, the head of the International Education Association of Australia, stressed that Australia has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win over international students. He argued that our competing nations are in the midst of a fight right now.
Clare emphasized that universities must do the outreach and engagement work to cultivate relationships with our Southeast Asian neighbors in order to earn those additional placements. They need to ensure safe accommodation is provided to local and international students alike. He stated, “Australia’s been very fortunate that other countries we compete against, particularly Canada, Donald Trump’s USA now and the UK are winding back on international student recruitment.” This environment helps to put Australia in a good place to compete for international students.
A new central oversight body would be created to determine and administer student enrollment caps and university funding allocations. Its focus has been providing equilibrium in the pipeline of courses and skillsets required in the industry. Clare’s hope is that this oversight will inject some much-needed certainty into the international education sector from 2027 onwards.
The university sector has understandably welcomed the prospect of at least 25,000 new student enrollments for the next academic year. Yet doubts remain about how to make the best use of these newly announced placements. Honeywood acknowledged that any uptick in enrollment numbers is welcome, but the rollout has been uneven. “Any increase in the enrolment figures from the government is very welcome. It’s patchy,” he remarked.
The current discussion around international student caps may be enough to discourage future students from coming to Australia, but how does it do so. The international education industry is worth around $34 billion each year to the Australian economy, and as such is a key target. Honeywood cautioned that English language colleges are under serious threat. High visa availability fees and uncertainty on the future of international education is making it hard for them to survive. He stated, “Our English language colleges are collapsing as we speak because of the combination of high student visa fees and just a concern that the future for Australian international education is not fantastic.”
Alec Webb, an industry expert, echoed this sentiment by emphasizing that Australia’s commitment to increasing student places signals its readiness to welcome international students. “It definitely signals that Australia is still open for business, and Australia should still be a destination that is being considered for prospective international students,” he said.
Even with this optimism though, Webb was quick to point out major hurdles in obtaining enough available and appropriate accommodation for students. It’s currently taking purpose-built student accommodation companies anything up to three years to get a project through the approvals process and start work on-site. So it’s a long game,” he added. He pointed out that long delays in getting planning permissions can make it difficult to respond quickly to an increase in demand.
