Huzaifa Nawaz feels lucky to be studying in Australia, as the major parties battle it out over whether limiting international students is the best way to drive down migration numbers.
The third year accounting student arrived in Perth from Bangladesh in 2022. He is one of 970,000 international students currently enrolled to study in Australia.
On Monday, the to temporarily reduce international student numbers to 270,000 next year, labelling it “reckless and chaotic”.
Nawaz told SBS News he was drawn to Curtin University both for its high academic ranking as well as the weather on the west coast, which had a similar hot climate to Bangladesh.
“I feel that I was lucky, but now I’m really worried about those people who want to have a life like me here … possibly they might not because of the caps,” he said.
“Seeing the people who are interested in coming here facing such problems, like the uncertainty of getting the visa, or them coming here.”
The 22-year-old warns the government it will deter students from coming to Australia and deliver a blow to an industry worth $34 billion a year to the Australian economy if it were to limit numbers.
“The government should focus on building more affordable housing, provide more government services, rather than limiting the cap on students, because that is just gonna discourage students from coming to Australia,” he said.
“The international students do feel like a scapegoat, although they are contributing huge to the economy, from paying tuition fees to living expenses, we contribute to billions and billions annually.”
He added others may apply to go to Canada, New Zealand or other destinations rather than “waste [their] time to apply to Australia”.
Group of Eight CEO Vicki Thompson does not support limiting student numbers.
Vicki Thomson — chief executive of the Group of Eight, which represents some of Australia’s most prestigious universities — expressed relief at Labor’s bill being blocked.
She told SBS News it had been a “chaotic and really flawed policy from the get-go”, with Group of Eight universities having to cut 28 per cent of students in 2025 if it went ahead.
“We do have a level of certainty now, but our universities have been cautious because we’ve not known what is actually going to happen,” she added.
The proposed bill, which will need to pass by the 1 January deadline for it to come into effect, has prompted a wider debate about the with education policy.
However, Thompson argues in its current form it’s a “blunt instrument” that won’t deliver the necessary discussion around Australia’s international education sector.
What is the government’s next step?
Without support for the bill, ministerial direction 107 will remain in place.
Introduced last December, it created a framework for student visa approvals which prioritised students looking to attend better universities, studying more than one course or institutions considered lower risk.
Alex Webb, chief executive of the Regional Universities Network, said it has impacted regional universities.
“For regional universities, ministerial directive 107 has had a truly devastating impact on the number of international students studying at Australia’s regions,” he told SBS News.
“Over the last year alone, we’ve seen a 34 per cent reduction in international student commencements. What we’re most worried about is, if the bill doesn’t pass, where is the certainty for Australia’s universities.”
