Australia has temporarily blocked private colleges and training organisations from applying to offer new courses to international students as part of a crackdown on abuse in the student visa system.

New applications to teach overseas students in vocational education and English-language courses will be suspended for 12 months, under the federal government regulation change.

The pause applies to applications lodged with the Australian Skills Quality Authority, the national regulator for vocational education providers from Monday.

The government has argued the move will give the regulator more time to scrutinise existing applications and investigate concerns about poor quality providers and an oversupply of colleges seeking to enter the international student market.

A rapid review into the exploitation of Australia’s visa system and the migration review in 2023 both identified significant integrity concerns with Australia’s international education sector.

Suspension ‘not a decision taken lightly’

Assistant Minister for International Education Julian Hill said Australia remained open to genuine students, but the government needed to protect the country’s reputation for high quality education.

“Suspending new registrations to teach international students VET or English language onshore is not a decision taken lightly,” he said.

“(It) will allow the government to address integrity concerns about new market entrants and over-saturation in the international VET and ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students sectors,” he said.

Mr Hill said it was concerning regulators were seeing a “rush of new market entrants” for courses and training even as student numbers in some parts of the sector had started to ease.

“Frankly, it raises suspicions,” he said.

The suspension does not affect public education providers, including government schools, TAFE and Australia’s major public universities.

Providers already approved to teach international students will still be able to add new campuses and update courses when existing qualifications are replaced.

The 12-month pause on new registrations was enabled by legislation passed late last year and forms part of Labor’s broader effort to shut down unscrupulous operators and improve the experience of legitimate international students.

The government has vowed to ensure the migration system supports genuine students and education providers who are “doing the right thing”.

International students the focus of migration debate

Labor’s decision to suspend new entrants to the private college market comes as major public universities brace for the Coalition to announce plans for significant cuts to foreign student numbers.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has said if elected in 2028 he would tie Australia’s net overseas migration rate to housing construction completion, likely setting an intake even lower than that cap to allow for some “catch up”.

Under Labor, the net overseas migration rate for 2025-26 is forecast to be 295,000, dropping to 245,000 next financial year and 225,000 annually beyond that.

But with dwelling completion rates at about 170,000 homes per year, Mr Taylor has indicated the Coalition would cut migration rates to significantly below 200,000.

Mr Taylor has not confirmed where the cuts would come from but has said the government had “lost control” of international student numbers.

Nationals Leader Matt Canavan has called the international visa system a “scam that needs to be scaled back”.

Labor initially sought to impose a cap on international students, but the Coalition and Greens blocked the legislation in the Senate.

The government has increasingly focused on integrity in the existing system and weeding out perceived “dodgy” applicants with the rejection rate for offshore student visas climbing to 40 per cent in March.

Universities warn against ‘sledgehammer’ approach

Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy said a “sledgehammer approach” to international students would harm the economy.

“Our estimation is that each student provides around $70,000 of economic stimulus to the country each and every year that they’re here,” he told ABC News Breakfast.

Mr Sheehy said about 80 per cent of the major universities’ students left the country after completing their education.

“Education is a great Australian export, and our international education is a great success story,” he said.

Mr Sheehy said there needed to be a “team Australia moment” to increase supply of housing, rather than target international students.

“International students only make up around 6 per cent of the private rental market,” he said.

Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Dave Sharma said the Coalition would be revealing details about the categories of visas it would cut to reduce migration closer to the election.

“We’re two years away,” he said.

“These are the sorts of details that we will reveal closest to the election, which will depend partly on what’s happening in the housing market at the time.”