Coalition to slash int’l students

“The proposed immigration cuts announced by the Coalition in its budget reply last week will have lasting negative effects on already volatile international student numbers, according to the sector. “International students are not the low-hanging fruit both sides of politics are treating them as in the migration debate,” Universities Australia (UA) chief Luke Sheehy said. During his budget reply, leader of the opposition Angus Taylor announced a number of changes to migration policy including capping immigration numbers based on the number of homes constructed each year. He tied migration numbers to home ownership, blaming the former for a shortfall of 400,000 homes. He added that if the Coalition was in power it would “deliver one of the biggest cuts to immigration in Australian history.” UA said the proposed changes to migration would “risk damaging Australia’s economy, businesses and prosperity, with serious consequences for international students and universities.” “International education is one of Australia’s great success stories – it supports and creates jobs, builds lasting international ties and contributes $55 billion to the economy each year,” Mr Sheehy said. The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has similar concerns, urging the Coalition to reveal how many international students would be “slashed” from Australian universities. The NTEU estimated the cuts to overseas migration would be about 40 per cent. NTEU national president Alison Barnes said a cut of this size would necessarily affect higher education. “It’s a potential nightmare for universities,” Dr Barnes said. “It’s obvious that a migration cut of that magnitude would mean going after international students, who make up a third of net overseas migration.” Dr Barnes also called out the lack of major education policies in Mr Taylor’s reply. “Voters deserve to know what the alternative government would do for universities and the staff, students and communities that rely on them. “All sides of politics should rule out going after international students and commit to measures that properly fund universities so they can provide the world-class teaching and research we need,” she said.

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