Australia limits international student enrollments for 2025

School students, higher degree by research students, students undertaking standalone English language courses (ELICOS), non-award students, Australian Government sponsored scholars, students that are part of an Australian transnational education arrangement or twinning arrangement, key partner foreign government scholarship holders, and students from the Pacific and Timor-Leste are excluded from the NPL.

Arrangements for 2026 and beyond will deliver sustainable growth in international student numbers to ensure the sustainability of the sector into the future, it added.

For publicly funded universities, the managed growth strategy is expected to lead to approximately 1,45,000 new international student enrollments in 2025, maintaining levels similar to those in 2023.

This, the government added, seeks to support universities who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and uneven patterns of student returns.

Individual limits will be outlined in an International Student Profile (ISP). Publicly funded universities have been provided with their indicative ISPs.

In developing ISPs, several factors have been taken into account using data from universities. This includes recent figures on new international student commencements and the concentration of international enrolments within their onshore student populations.

Starting in 2026, the Albanese Government will promote the development of new student housing by universities to support the growth of both domestic and international students. For other universities and non-university higher education providers, the total number of new international student commencements in 2025 is expected to be approximately 30,000.

Under the Albanese Government’s managed growth strategy, approximately 95,000 new international VET student commencements are anticipated in 2025. Providers with a higher proportion of international students will receive reduced allocations to encourage a more diverse student base.

These reforms aim to bolster sector integrity and improve the international student experience, ensuring sustainable growth by offering more opportunities for training alongside Australian students.

Pending legislative approval, from January 1, 2025, this new system of managed growth and enhanced integrity measures will replace Ministerial Direction 107.

Saying that it is determined to strengthen the integrity of the sector and ensure it maintains its social licence, the government added that this move to limit the number of international students would bring the number of new international student commencements, across higher education and VET, back to pre-pandemic levels.

The Albanese Government is strengthening the integrity and sustainability of the international education sector, a statement on the ministers.education.gov.au said.