Australia freezes register of international training colleges

Australia has frozen the number of training colleges that are entitled to admit foreign students, in its latest effort to curtail overseas enrolments.

The assistant minister for international education, Julian Hill, has directed the vocational training regulator to stop considering applications from institutions seeking to be included on, or have new courses added to, the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students.

The suspension remains in force for a year. It is the first time the government has exercised its power to defer the processing of new provider registrations, under an “integrity” bill passed by parliament last November.

While the order explicitly applies to non-government training institutions, the power to extend it to higher education institutions remains open to the government.

Meanwhile, changes flagged in the 12 May federal budget could directly affect international enrolments at universities. The government plans to reform the “points test” which gatekeeps the admission of most skilled migrants to Australia.

“The points test will be optimised to select better educated, higher‑skilled and younger migrants overall”, in order to “better identify migrants who drive productivity and Australia’s long‑term prosperity”, a budget document says.

Monash University higher education policy expert Andrew Norton said it was the “one major anti-international student lever” that the government had not previously activated. “The current points test favours former international students, so they are vulnerable,” Norton tweeted. “Huge numbers of former students express interest in points tested visas.”

Under the test, studying in Australia earns applicants five of the 65-plus points required to apply for skilled migration. Study in regional Australia is worth 10 points. Bachelor’s or master’s qualifications earn 15 points, and doctoral qualifications are worth 20. Postgraduate research qualifications in STEM fields attract another 10 points.

Temporary graduate visa holders are at record numbers in Australia. The government blames their failure to leave, more than the arrival of fresh temporary entrants, for the blowout in Treasury’s predictions of net overseas migration.

While the possibility of permanent migration contributes significantly to Australia’s allure to international students, immigration expert Abul Rizvi said temporary graduate visas should only be available to students who had done high-quality courses in areas of “long-term skill need” for Australia.

“If the government wants to get net migration down, the temporary graduate visa holders who are doing courses that are not in our long-term interests need to start departing,” Rizvi said.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com