The Albanese Government is refocusing its attention on a new international student framework, with a range of key issues in its crosshairs.
Assistant Minister for International Education Julian Hill told the Future Campus HE FEST conference that he would be developing the new framework in coming months, and welcomed further submissions.
Walking through some of the key territory that the framework will cover, Mr Hill continued the Government’s position on housing shortages being the main cause of public dissatisfaction with universities – in contrast to the NTEU position expressed earlier in the day at HE FEST identifying governance issues as the primary source of public concern.
Quality of education experience; integrity of the student recruitment and visa process; mandated source market diversity; addressing inequitable distribution of students and boosting the growth of offshore campuses are also firmly on the agenda.
Mr Hill said he was looking to reposition the sector with a new international framework for international education, and invited submissions from the sector. Work began on the framework last year, but has taken a back seat while the Government addressed the challenge of re-election and then a horde of governance issues emerging in recent months.
“Success relies on a ruthless focus on quality and a great student experience,” he said.
Housing Crisis – ‘The Randwick Problem”
In a spirited prosecution of the Government’s argument that international students were partly to blame for the housing crisis, Mr Hill said
“In aggregate net population growth does have an impact on the housing market, it’s just patent nonsense to argue otherwise,” he said.
“Individual students are not to blame for decades of supply issues in housing. But in reality the housing staff is real – of course aggregate demand adds to pressures on housing.”
Social licence was under strain because of perceptions – and realities – about the impact of international students on housing, and the sector had to address it, with larger, wealthier institutions expected to do most of the heavy lifting in construction.
When asked to respond to perceptions from some in the sector that the Government was using the impact of international students on housing as a convenient way to improve their public positioning on immigration, despite studies indicating the impact was minimal, except for a few electorates, Mr Hill pushed back.
“The sector would say that wouldn’t they, because they don’t have to manage migration, they are not actually responsible for providing housing, they are not accountable to voters,” he said.
The Government’s continued position comes despite reports from the Property Council, Uni SA and Reserve Bank of Australia staff found little or no link between international students and rent costs or housing supply.
Public perceptions blaming international students for housing shortages needed to be addressed, Mr Hill said – explaining that the localised impact of housing shortages affected perceptions in specific areas.
Some staff in the Department of Education referred to the impact of international students on housing as “The Randwick Problem,” he said.
“Students are not to blame for the housing crisis – but it is essential infrastructure for this sector to operate,” Mr Hill said.
“Sure, there are not international students living in most suburbs in the country but they are living en masse in certain parts of the cities, including where we need key workers and others.”
Reflecting that he has heard concerns of the RUN group and others struggling to recapture international student markets, Mr Hill was quick to note that he recognised the distribution of international student demand had been strained in the past couple of years.
“I’m not naïve; I understand students are not widgets that you can just take from a capital city and just plonk into a regional area, we can change the incentives, there is more we can do, we can allow institutions to grow back to previous levels in many cases,” he said.
There is an issue with distribution (market diversification) as well as integrity. “We do have serious concerns about integrity. There are significant reforms already done, but we have a lot more to do.”
“We do need to see more serious attention by the larger institutions in investment in housing,” he said.
TNE focus to build Soft Power
Mr Hill acknowledged the significance of international student revenue to both the bottom lines of universities and also the nation, but said the focus on student’s economic contribution “often obscures the tangible, but harder to value and less appreciated aspects of this sector – soft power DFAT call it.”
Signalling the importance of the sector to foreign policy and security strategy, Mr Hill presented the increased focus on Trans National Education (TNE) as a deliberate outcome from the caps on student numbers. The Government appears to see value in squeezing onshore revenue so that universities are forced to invest in offshore outposts if they want to snag increased revenue.
The Government wants Australian institutions to develop more sophisticated, diverse campuses with research and engagement functions as well as education delivery.
“I am very open to ideas about what other things the government could be doing to help institutions with (TNE) without turning up with a bucket of cash,” Mr Hill said.
“These are incredibly valuable hubs for Australia both for our economic power and our soft power.”
Ongoing pursuit of “shonks” – and worse
The Federal Government is soon to introduce a slightly revised version of their 2024 ESOS Bill to strengthen the integrity of international education (the previous Bill failed to pass before the election was called).
The new Bill will be very similar to parts 1 to 6 of the previous Bill and will end onshore commissions to agents, Mr Hill said. “We believe the role of intermediaries in the market onshore has corrupted the market,”
The misuse of student visas revealed when the Albanese Government first came to power was “shocking”, Mr Hill said – with human trafficking, migration scams, work scams and organised crime. He indicated the classified reports on the issue revealed even worse issues than those already on the public record.
Government intervention would be swift in numerous areas, including safeguarding integrity, but he promised it would stop short of being a Soviet-style planned economy. Mr Hill encouraged the sector to embrace the opportunity for reform, owning up to problems and working with the government to create change.
Student experience and quality would be central to the new framework.
“We cannot sell false hope. Most students will have to go home. That’s going to remain the case while we run a large onshore students program and a capped – necessarily so – migration program.”
Watch the full speech from HE FEST 25.