Plans from the Coalition to significantly slash the number of international students in Australia and triple the price of study visa applications “make no sense on any level” and risk jeopardising local research and innovation, according to higher education organisations.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced over the weekend that if the Coalition wins the upcoming May election, it plans to limit the number of international student enrolments to 240,000 per year which is 30,000 less than Labor’s policy.

To do this, it will introduce a cap of no more than 25 per cent of students enrolled at public universities coming from overseas from next year, and more than triple the cost of student visa applications at Group of Eight universities.

This includes University of Melbourne, Australian National University, UNSW Sydney and the University of Sydney.

Dutton said the reduction in international students is aimed at improving housing affordability for Australians.

“This is a very significant step that we’re taking,” Dutton told the media.

“It is all about making sure that we can do what we can to help young Australians get into home ownership more quickly and how we can help with the rental crisis that Labor’s created as well.”

The Coalition last year voted against government legislation in Parliament that would have given the education minister the power to impose caps on the number of people entering Australia to study.

With this legislation failing to pass, the government instead issued a ministerial direction late last year ordering immigration officials to prioritise student visa applications for all universities until they approach individual caps, with subsequent applications put into slower visa processing streams instead.

The number of people applying to study in Australia is already on the decline, with figures showing that in August last year, less than half the number of international visa applications were made offshore compared to the previous year.

The Coalition announcement goes further than the Labor government’s target of reducing the number of international students in Australia to 270,000, and also flags an increase of student visa application fees to $5,000 for overseas students at the large Group of Eight universities.

The cost for applicants at other institutions will be increased to $2,500.

‘Wrong policy, wrong time’

Australia’s universities have reacted with despair and anger at the planned policy, saying they were not consulted on it and that it risks kneecapping one of the country’s most important sectors.

Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson said it is the “wrong policy at the wrong time”.

“It makes no sense on any level,” Thomson said.

“We are facing skills shortages in areas critical to our economic competitiveness.

“It beggars belief that the Coalition would single out the Group of Eight for extra burden – Australia’s top universities all ranked in the world’s top 100 that attract the best and brightest minds from our region and around the world.”

International Education Association of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood said there had been no consultation from the Coalition before the announcement.

“The only conclusion from today’s totally flawed Coalition policy announcement is that they cannot be taken seriously on international student enrolment caps,” Honeywood said.

Cutting international student numbers is like taking a “sledgehammer to one of the nation’s biggest income generators”, Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy said.

“International education delivered more than half of Australia’s GDP growth in 2023 and almost single-handedly kept us out of recession,” Sheehy said.

“Curtailing growth in international education puts at risk our national priorities, from research and innovation to skills development and economic growth.”

Sharp fee increase

The planned fee increase has also drawn the ire of the higher education groups.

In July last year, the Labor government increased the non-refundable cost of student visa applications from $710 to $1600.

The Coalition is now planning to more than triple this to $5,000 for applications to the big eight universities, which Honeywood described as “outrageous”.

“To charge aspirational young people $5,000 for a non-refundable student visa application sends an appalling message from a supposedly welcoming study destination country,” he said.

“This measure alone will persuade students to steer away from Australia and apply instead to much more welcoming nations such as the UK and New Zealand.”