Australia announced Tuesday it plans to cap the number of international students enrolled at 270,000 by 2025 in an effort to curb rising home rental prices blamed on record migration.
According ReutersThe move is part of a series of measures taken since last year to revoke COVID-19-era benefits for foreign students and workers in the country, which allowed companies to hire locally due to strict border controls restricting foreign workers.
Speaking at a press conference, Education Minister Jason Clare said: “There are around 10% more international students in our universities today than before the pandemic and around 50% more in our private vocational training providers.
“The reforms are designed to improve and make the international student sector fairer, and this will put it on a more sustainable footing in the future.”
International education is one of Australia's largest export industries, contributing A$36.4 billion to the economy in the 2022-23 financial year.
But polls have shown voters are concerned that a large influx of foreign students and workers would put undue pressure on the housing market, making immigration one of the main potential battlegrounds in an election less than a year away.
Net immigration hit a record high in the year to 30 September 2023, rising 60% to a record 548,800, up from 518,000 in the year ending June 2023.
Australia has increased its annual migration figures in 2022 to help businesses hire staff to fill shortages after the COVID-19 pandemic brought strict border controls and kept out foreign students and workers for almost two years.
Record migration, driven by students from India, China and the Philippines, has expanded labor supply and restrained wage pressures, but exacerbated an already tight housing market.
In an attempt to stem the surge in migration, the government last month doubled the visa fee for foreign students and pledged to close loopholes in rules that allowed them to continually extend their stay.
