Australia has announced that it will be limiting its international student intake to 2.7 lakh in 2025 in a bid to tackle record levels of migration that has led to skyrocketing house rental prices.
The limit includes higher education courses as well as vocational education and training courses, Australia's Education Minister Jason Clare said today.
The move is set to impact Indian students hoping to go abroad for higher education, especially those from Punjab which accounts for a large number of such students.
"In June 2022, Australia capped the foreign student intake at 5.10 lakh. This number was reduced to 3.75 lakh in 2023. Now they have reduced the annual planning levels further. These levels are accorded to individual universities for all international students and not just for Indian students. The universities will distribute the quotas country wise then state wise," Sunil Jaggi, a member of Migration Agents Registration Authority of Australia, said.
"The students who were preparing to take admission for the February intake will get affected by this announcement. Students from Punjab will be worst affected," he further said.
"This will affect my career. My family is taking loans for my education as the cost of studying in Australia is quite high," a student from Haryana, who wishes to study nursing in Australia, said.
"The Indian government must put forward students' point of view to the Australian government," another student said.
Notably, the Australian Education Minister on a visit to India last year had signed an agreement to expand in-country access to Australian higher education institutions for Indian students.
According to India's Ministry of External Affairs, around 1.22 lakh students from the country study in Australia. India's Quad partner is the fourth most popular destination for Indian students studying abroad, after Canada, the US and the UK.
Australia also increased its non-refundable visa fee for foreign students from AUD 710 to AUD 1,600, another measure that seemingly aims to reduce migration levels.
Canada has also announced new restrictions on its temporary foreign workers' programme. Starting September 26, businesses will only be allowed to fill up to 10 per cent of their workforce with low-wage foreign workers, down from the previous 20 per cent. The decision to limit the number of low-wage foreign workers comes in response to rising unemployment rates in Canada. The overall unemployment rate has climbed to 6.4 per cent, with the rate for younger workers reaching 14.2 per cent.
