Australia recently announced plans to cap international student enrollment at 270,000 by 2025. , the federal government will reduce the number of international students by ordering a “slow-down” of visa processing once each university’s application targets are met.
New Ministerial Directive 111 (MD111) now divides student visas into two categories: “High Priority” and “Standard Priority”. All universities will receive high-priority processing up to 80% of their cap, after which “standard priority” processing will begin.
This replaces controversial Ministerial Direction 107 (MD107) issued in December 2023, which prioritized visa processing for “low-risk” Sandstone universities and students from “low-risk” countries.
“So, we’re very upfront about it, it will prioritize visas for students going to those areas and smaller universities, which is what we hope to achieve with this legislation, and it will only help us manage our international student numbers, as we said , which has contributed to the significant growth in the number of people coming to Australia,” Australian media quoted federal Finance Minister Katie Gallagher as saying.
The decision has not been met with approval by all experts, as some believe the ongoing changes could be confusing for international students keen to continue their studies in Australia. They also fear the “confusing” changes will make Australia look unwelcoming to ambitious people.
Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight, which represents Australia’s eight elite research universities, said: “After setting a 2025 international enrollment target for each Australian university, the government has been very quick in processing visas. Support is pointless” reaches 80% of that target. “
The expert added that this sudden policy change “appears to be designed to leave a huge budget hole for Australian universities without financial compensation”.
“In the absence of a legislative cap, the government has set a ‘priority threshold’ – the basis of which remains unclear. Even more confusing is the direction to allow processing once the threshold reaches 80% (rather than the full threshold) Slowing down. Although there is no legislative basis for international student numbers, our universities have budgeted based on figures provided by the government months ago, and for no apparent reason. Things have changed again,” Vicky added.
Why should you buy our subscription?
You want to be the smartest person in the room.
You want access to our award-winning journalism.
You don’t want to be misled and misled.
Choose your subscription plan