What do migration debates and bushfires have in common? They both scare off foreign students

Migration debates and the rise of anti-immigration sentiment are jeopardising Australia’s $54 billion international student market, multiple experts have warned, as the sector braces for fallout from a crackdown on non-genuine students from South Asia.

Property Council executive director Dr Adele Lausberg told a Universities Australia conference on Thursday that, much in the same way global news coverage using maps incorrectly suggesting the entire continent was aflame during the 2019 bushfires created a “fear about tourism in Australia”, anti-immigration sentiments risked doing the same.

“Migration debates that are in the newspapers every day is obviously something that people look at overseas. We need to be mindful of how these also are picked up internationally,” she said.

The Australian government must use consistent messaging domestically and internationally if the nation is to remain a viable player in international education, reiterated the Education Centre of Australia’s Dr Lawrence Pratchett.

“It’s not just about having policy consistency,” he said.

“The media in India and probably in every other country are not distinguishing between the message for the international education community, and the message going domestically. Paying attention to that domestic messaging and how that might impact on the international reception is really, really important.”

The calls for a more moderate rhetoric come as the government cracks down on non-genuine international students from South Asia.

A non-genuine international student is one who exploits visa loopholes to gain working rights.

“In May 2022, we had more students apply to come to Australia from Nepal than from China that month. It was just patently ridiculous. And we saw over the last couple of months … an unsustainable spike in non-genuine students from some parts of South Asia,” federal International Education Assistant Minister Julian Hill told the conference.

An explosion in “the less reputable parts of the sector” forced the Albanese government to address international student numbers, Hill said.

Labor failed to pass legislation to cap the nation’s international student intake that year. It pivoted to controlling the flow of students through the visa system instead, now forcing a “go slow” on visa applications after a university reaches 80 per cent of its allocation of students for the year.

“Growth has stabilised, commencements are down by about 15 per cent,” he said.

“The absolute number of students is basically flatlined, which means, logically, we should see a bit of a moderation in student numbers to more sustainable levels.”

Some universities have turned to offshore campuses to circumvent restrictions on international student numbers, although Pratchett warned that starting offshore campuses to prop up local campuses’ ailing finances was doomed.

“If it is purely about short-term financial correction, for things you can no longer do in your home campus, it will fail,” he said.

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