University leaders have warned they are struggling to fill international student places due to visa uncertainty and heated political debate on immigration, with regional areas hit hardest. Concern is mounting that financial shortfalls could affect domestic students.
Data from the Department of Education for October shows that, on average, universities are filling just two-thirds of their allocated international student places. Only five public universities—all in capital cities—have reached more than 80 percent capacity.
Mike Ferguson, pro vice-chancellor of international students at Charles Sturt University, which has campuses across regional New South Wales, said his institution has filled just 40 percent of its cap this year. "At the moment, we're around 35 percent down on where we were last year, and we had expected to grow from last year. Currently we only have 20 percent of the international student volume we had prior to the pandemic," Ferguson said.
Charles Sturt has estimated the gap between pre-COVID international student recruitment and now is costing $35 million, and the university has announced job cuts and restructuring in response.
Ferguson attributed the fall to government policy, including hiking visa application fees to $2,500, high refusal rates, and growing uncertainty from announcements by the Coalition and One Nation targeting international students. He said regional universities primarily recruit from South Asian countries, which are experiencing visa refusal rates of about 53 percent.
"It's not only resulting in us losing what we believe to be largely genuine students … but it's also creating a large deterrent from new students to come in and apply, knowing they're having to pay world record visa fees with only a one in two chance of actually getting a visa," Ferguson said.
Professor Andrew Norton, an expert in higher education, said the declining numbers were affecting all public universities because they cross-subsidise teaching and research with international student fees. "It creates massive problems because international students are basically the only profitable aspect of university operations," he said.
Duncan Bentley, vice-chancellor of Federation University in regional Victoria, said his university is also facing significant pressures with far fewer international students enrolling this year. The university has pushed the government for a special regional skills student visa that would prioritise international students wanting to study in critical areas such as allied health or teaching.
Western Sydney University vice-chancellor, George Williams, said his university had also experienced significant declines in overseas students.