Why does Australia continuously 'tighten' regulations related to international students?

International students studying in Australia

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Australia is seeing a record increase in international student numbers with 655,000 people holding student visas as of the end of July 2023, far surpassing the pre-pandemic peak of 634,000 student visas in September 2019.

Record growth but unsustainable

Accordingly, from November 2022 to July 2023, the Australian government issued an average of more than 47,000 student visas each month, with 53% of them studying bachelor's and master's degrees. International student spending contributed $21.4 billion to the country in the first 6 months of the year alone, and is expected to surpass the highest revenue peak ever achieved in 2019 in 2023.

However, experts say that the internationaleducation sector in Australia is at risk of unsustainable development due to lack of real growth. In particular, the "trick" of discounting in the form of scholarships has been used "excessively" in recent times, causing the profits of universities to decline. Specifically, nearly 30 Australian universities reported losses in 2022, one of the reasons being the massive introduction of 20-25% scholarships as a tuition discount mechanism.

According to Times Higher Education , for an Australian university enrolling 1,000 international students per year, to offer a 20% scholarship, the school must pay about 5.4 million AUD. This cost will quickly increase with a "snowball" effect because the scholarship is maintained over the years, and can reach 16.2 million AUD in the third year.

However, the actual cost is much higher because most Australian universities enroll at least 2,000 international students each year, some up to 10,000. The fact that Australian universities are using this strategy has reduced their competitive advantage, because international students will have the mentality of receiving scholarships and compare schools based on scholarships.

Experts say the use of scholarships as a "trick" to recruit students has caused Australia's international education system to grow at a record pace but is unsustainable.

TEQSA, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, has recently sent a letter warning Australian education institutions about their compliance with standards in the recruitment, admission and support of international students. This move comes after a series of investigations into unethical recruitment practices and the provision of incomplete information by a number of domestic and foreign study abroad consulting companies when "selling the dream of studying in Australia".

TEQSA Chief Commissioner Professor Peter Coaldrake said universities needed to have transparent admissions processes, with separate operations between advertising and admissions. Universities needed to manage the risks associated with rapid growth and the risks in key recruitment markets, he stressed.

There will be more changes until the end of the year.

Following new regulations to patch up the "loopholes" in the student visa system, Mr. Andrew Giles, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, recently announced the end of the Covid-19 visa (pandemic event visa) from February 2024. The reason is that this visa has been exploited by some international students to switch from studying to accessing work in Australia.

Specifically, The PIE News reported that an estimated 30% of the 100,000 individuals with Covid-19 visas previously held student visas. This means that many international students, after arriving in Australia, instead of following the correct study path, ended their studies early and switched to Covid-19 visas to work full-time.

Australian education bodies have called for an end to international students being able to access this visa. From September 2, Covid-19 visas will only be extended to those who already hold this visa, at a cost of 405 AUD (6.2 million VND).

Vietnamese students learn about opportunities to study in Australia at an information day held in August 2023

Previously, Australia adjusted the 40-hour work policy every two weeks for international students, increased the minimum financial requirements in the student visa process, eliminated the concurrent study form to end the situation of jumping to "ghost schools", taking advantage of the "cover" of studying abroad to access full-time jobs, and reduced the average student visa processing time to 16 days...

According to the media, the Australian government will continue to take measures to strengthen the integrity of international education and student visas as part of an ongoing review of the country's migration system. The Australian Migration Strategy, due to be released in late 2023, will outline a policy roadmap to implement the government's vision for the migration system.

In addition, experts also directed the government's attention to other internal issues, such as competition for jobs between international students and domestic students, plans to provide affordable housing and other necessary infrastructure to support the expected influx of 1.5 million migrants to Australia in the next five years, half of whom will be international students.

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