‘Evil genius’: Immigration changes pushing unis into insolvency

Resumen detallado

Senior government figures are increasingly concerned by the impact of immigration cuts, as leaked figures from ANU suggest a deficit three times greater than projected.

Fears are growing that the Albanese government’s curbs on international students will cost universities more than the $2 billion currently forecast and will permanently break the funding model on which many universities rely.

With cuts to the working holiday maker visa program expected to cost the tourism sector more than $500 million a year, unease is spreading among senior Labor figures that Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s drive to reduce migration will do lasting damage to valuable parts of the economy.

“Tony Burke thinks he’s being an evil genius,” one Labor insider tells The Saturday Paper this week. “But the problem is he’s neither.”

In a September speech to the National Press Club detailing the broader plan to cut net overseas migration, Burke defended the clampdown on international student visas, arguing that tighter rules were needed to prevent would-be economic migrants using student visas as a gateway to permanent residency.

Instead, coupled with earlier caps on how many international students each university can enrol, the new measures are scaring off students who are now looking elsewhere for tertiary education.

The assistant minister for international education, Julian Hill, said in a speech late last month that the government expected new international student commencements to fall 18 per cent by the end of this year, representing a $2 billion blow to the higher education sector. He criticised universities for not applying better screening of student visa applications.

A survey of 4800 prospective students released last month by international student recruitment agency IDP Education found Australia’s share of first-choice study destinations had fallen from 31 per cent to 24 per cent, with the United Kingdom and the United States both gaining ground.

Signs of damage to the sector from the changes are starting to show, with the University of Melbourne this week attributing plans to cut 180 jobs across eight areas of the university to poor financial…

Australi…

Inicio del artículo, extracto de The Saturday Paper. Para leer el resto, abra el artículo en el sitio del medio.