Australia plans to cap foreign student numbers from next year, the government said Tuesday, curbing a multi-billion-dollar industry as it faces political heat on immigration.

New international student numbers for university, higher education and vocational training will be limited to 270,000 in 2025, Education Minister Jason Clare told a news conference.

Australia plans to cap foreign student numbers from next year, the government said Tuesday, curbing a multi-billion-dollar industry as it faces political heat on immigration.

New international student numbers for university, higher education and vocational training will be limited to 270,000 in 2025, Education Minister Jason Clare told a news conference.

Australia plans to cap foreign student numbers from next year, the government said Tuesday, curbing a multi-billion-dollar industry as it faces political heat on immigration.

New international student numbers for university, higher education and vocational training will be limited to 270,000 in 2025, Education Minister Jason Clare told a news conference.

“We acknowledge the government’s right to control migration numbers, but this should not be done at the expense of any one sector, particularly one as economically important as education,” said Universities Australia chair David Lloyd.

– ‘Absolutely vital’ –

International students were Australia’s second largest industry after mining, accounting for more than half of the growth in Australia’s economy last year, Lloyd said.

“Every dollar from overseas students is reinvested back into Australia’s universities. Having fewer students here will only widen the funding gap at a time universities need greater support.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said this month the industry was “absolutely vital” for Australia.

But he said universities should not be overly reliant on overseas students, in part because of the implications for migration.

About 69 percent of Australian respondents blamed immigration for high house prices, said an Essential poll for The Guardian published on Tuesday.

About the same share of people — 42 percent on each side — described immigration as “generally positive” or “generally negative”, it said.

Net migration to Australia surged 26.3 percent in calendar 2023 to 547,300, official figures show, with 751,500 people immigrating while 204,200 left.

Australia’s government also plans to protect the international education industry from “crooks who try to exploit it”, the education minister said.

More than 150 “ghost colleges” had recently been shut down, Clare said, describing them as “a back door” to let people work in Australia rather than get an education.