Australian universities have had differing reactions to the announcement of a international student cap, with larger universities opposed while smaller universities are welcoming it.

The federal government announced that they will be capping the number of international students enrolling into tertiary education providers in 2025. A limit of 270,000 students will be shared between both higher education and vocational education and training (VET) sectors.

Education Minister Jason Clare said that smaller universities, such as La Trobe, Charles Darwin and Wollongong University, were pleased with this cap. They had “felt the brunt of things” under the Ministerial Direction 107 according to Clare, where student visa applications were prioritised by immigration officials from institutions with low visa rejection rates.

Theo Farrell, vice-chancellor of La Trobe University, said the university welcomes “the certainty provided” by the cap.

“La Trobe has been disproportionately impacted by the student visa processing arrangements stemming from Ministerial Direction 107,” he said.

“La Trobe supports transparent and proportionate measures to ensure the managed and sustainable growth of international students in Australia.”

Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of 8, said that this new policy is a bad response to “one reckless policy folly”, referring to Ministeral Direction 107, and it will “punish” the universities proving to be “the very best” to international students.

“The cap on international students will have detrimental consequences for our university, the higher education sector generally, and the nation for years to come,” she said.

“The Go8 encourages the Senate in the strongest possible terms to not allow the government to bully it into passing legislation.”

Duncan Maskell, vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne, said that this new policy does not address the proper issues and will not just impact the university.

“It is staggering that we continue to have this debate while there is apparently no serious intent to address really major reform issues,” he said.

“The cap on international students will have detrimental consequences for our university, the higher education sector generally, and the nation for years to come.”

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