A new report from student insight analytics platform Voyage Insights highlights that negative sentiment among current and prospective international students towards Australia has increased by 2518% as a result of the uncertainty around Australia’s student visa policies.
The policies in question are Australia’s stalled Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024 (ESOS Amendment Bill) and the Australia’s controversial Ministerial Directive 107 (MD107).
ESOS Amendment Bill
Australia’s new student cap legislation, the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024, progressed to a second reading in Australia’s Senate late in the evening on 18 November. However, in a surprise twist, opposition parties announced that they would not support the ESOS Amendment Bill, claiming that the Labor Government’s “chaotic and confused education bill will fail to fix the migration and housing crisis of the Government’s own making.”
Up until yesterday, it was technically possible for Labor and Coalition senators to strike a deal and for debate around the Bill to be resumed. However, yesterday was the final parliamentary sitting day for the year in Australia, and the ESOS Amendment Bill failed to reappear on the Senate Order of Business for debate, meaning the Australian government cannot go ahead with its plans to introduce enrolment caps from 1 January 2025.
There are, however, strong indications that the current government will continue to restrict international student numbers in the absence of legislated enrolment caps.
Ministerial Direction 107
Earlier this month, The Pie News reported that Australia’s education minister, Jason Clare, has made it clear that the government will continue to rely on the MD107 should the ESOS Amendment Bill fail to pass into law.
MD107 is an immigration framework introduced in December 2023 that categorises Australian education providers into different risk levels, with those providers considered to be “low-risk” receiving preferential treatment. Australia saw a significant increase in visa rejection rates for students from some countries following its introduction.
According to the Voyage report, social media is flooded with posts from students who are trying to understand the way in which providers are categorised under MD107, and ambiguity has left students from less privileged backgrounds in particular, feeling anxious about their future plans. One of the students quoted in the Voyage report explains:
“I’ve been saving for years to study in Australia, and now I’m scared this framework will shut me out. What happens to students like me who come from developing countries and can’t always access these ‘preferred’ institutions?”.
Universities Australia reacted to the news that MD107 will remain in place by issuing a statement saying that:
“The Albanese Government must immediately act to remove Ministerial Direction 107 (MD107) to deliver the certainty, stability and growth necessary to sustain Australia’s universities and which has been promised to them.”
“Confirmation today that MD107, described by Minister Clare as a “de facto cap”, will remain in place means universities and the economy will continue to experience serious financial harm at a time Australia can’t afford such a measure.”
“MD107 has already stripped an estimated $4 billion from the economy and our universities and is putting thousands of jobs at risk right across the economy.”
“Some universities, particularly those in outer suburban and regional areas where MD107 is being felt most, are on their knees due to the financial impact of this destructive instrument.
Student Accommodation Council
Following the announcement around the stalled ESOS Amendment Bill, Australia’s Student Accommodation Council reiterated previous warnings that international students are not to blame for Australia’s housing crisis.
Student Accommodation Council Executive Director Torie Brown said the continuous scapegoating of international students for the housing crisis does not align with the facts.
“We keep hearing that international students are to blame for the housing crisis, but this does not reflect reality,” Ms Brown said.
“International students only make up six per cent of the rental market – heavily weighted towards CBDs – with 73 per cent of local government areas having an international student concentration of less than one per cent.
“We’ve previously released data that shows increasing rents do not correlate with rising student numbers. Rents began to skyrocket in 2020, when there were no international students arriving in Australia.
“Despite claims that student accommodations only houses international students, roughly 30 per cent of students living in student accommodation are domestic students, in particular those moving from the regions for study.
“If the government and the opposition want to have a release valve for rental homes, they should work with the sector to unlock PBSA which takes both domestic and international students out of the rental market,” Ms Brown said.
