The Albanese government has announced it aims to cap international student levels at 270,000 in 2025, under a plan that would pare back university enrolments to their 2023 levels. The proposal – which covers the higher education and vocational education and training (VET) sectors – is subject to a bill before parliament. But the education minister, Jason Clare, has said the reforms will result in universities having 15% more international student enrolments than before the Covid-19 pandemic while “private vocational providers will be about 20% less”.

‘I ask political leaders to at least have some compassion’

When I was an international student at one of Australia’s most prestigious universities, I encountered many domestic students ranting about their international classmates. Some complained the international students rarely spoke English, while others were annoyed that half of their classmates were not Australian – some even refused to speak to us.

These conversations always made me anxious. For decades, international students have been scapegoats for everything, from the housing crisis to universities’ declining teaching quality. But how many of the policies by successive governments actually resolve the problems?

A key issue is the lack of sustainable funding for universities in the past two decades, which has pushed higher education institutions to seek alternative financial avenues through international student engagement. Not only do these policies targeting international students fail to meaningfully address any of the issues, but they escalate stigmatisation against the group, as well as racism.

I’m worried that’s what the newly announced cap of international students would lead to. It may be effective in the short term, but the price will be paid by this group of young people who are bearing the blame. That won’t disappear in the next decade.

I know why international students are always targeted when it comes to policies like these: because we aren’t voters in any elections. But I ask political leaders to at least have some compassion when it comes to policymaking, and especially consider their social impacts.

International students have been contributing to Australia’s economy and society in various ways. They also deserve to be cared for.

‘What happens beyond 2025 is anyone’s guess’

The government’s announcement of caps on new international students in 2025 is a new high-water mark in the centralised micromanagement of the tertiary education sector.

The government’s approach is highly complicated, involving new definitions of categories of students, the inclusion of some groups of students and exclusion of others, formulas that apply in different ways to different institutions, and an overall lack of transparency.

Because the caps only apply to some new students, it will take some time for each institution to fully understand what the impact of these caps will be for them. It will take even longer to model what the impact will be on international student numbers overall.

In an effort to reverse the damage caused by its disastrous approach to student visas, ministerial direction 107, the government risks becoming increasingly involved in trying to determine which students should be studying in which institutions.

What we know so far about the higher education sector is that the caps will apply to the number of new students providers enrol, not their total number of international students.

Australia’s largest universities, which also have high proportions of international students and are the most research-focused, will incur the biggest cuts. Most of these will have caps on new students set halfway between their 2019 and 2023 commencing numbers.

Universities with the smallest proportions of international students will have their caps set at 2023 numbers.

What happens beyond 2025 is anyone’s guess, and will be determined through negotiations between the yet to be established Australian Tertiary Education Commission and each provider.

‘This not just about dollars or numbers, it’s about people’

Throughout the debate on capping international student numbers, our greatest concern has been the impact on the western Sydney community.

As the nation’s most culturally diverse and internationally facing region, we know that overseas students enrich our society and our university. They contribute to our local economy, many live with local families in homestay-style arrangements, they work part-time while they study, filling skills shortages, and many go on to careers in critical frontline jobs.

Most of the 1,350 international students who studied nursing and midwifery with us last year now work in western Sydney’s overburdened hospitals. They are helping ease the region’s nursing gap with the local health system forecast to be short 10,000 nurses next year.

Our international students do not contribute to the housing crisis. Every one of our international students who wants a bed gets a bed.

This is not just a debate about dollars or numbers for Western Sydney University; it’s about people, lost opportunities, and what the decision means to our community.

We maintain that this poorly conceived legislation risks holding back the momentum of an entire region that has unlimited potential.