Recently, Australia has imposed stricter visa conditions and checks on foreign students, resulting in a 10-year low in student arrivals and a five-year high in departures.
Only 46,570 students arrived in Australia to start their studies last month, the lowest level in March since 2014 (excluding the pandemic in 2021 and 2022), when 44,260 students arrived in Australia.
At the same time, the number of students abroad surged to 39,860 from 21,800 a year ago.
Immigration expert Abul Rizvi said a series of recent policy changes to cut immigration are paying off. He believes that the downward trend in the number of new students is very obvious.
Since July last year, Home Affairs Minister Claire O'Neill has repeatedly amended the rules on student visas and education intermediaries in order to take advantage of illegal work while studying abroad.
At the same time, a tight housing market has put pressure on the government, with voters associating rising rents with record levels of immigration.
These policy changes include the removal of the so-called COVID-19 visa, which allows students to work full-time. It is estimated that 120,000 international students choose this option within a year. The government also prohibits education intermediaries from earning commissions by helping students switch courses and institutions.
Heightened scrutiny of visa applications has pushed refusal rates to record highs, while higher risk ratings have made it harder for universities and colleges to recruit students from markets such as India, Nepal and Pakistan.
Are these policies to reduce the number of international students effective in reducing the burden?
Phil Honeywood, chief executive of the Australian Association of International Education, said migration was a "hot" political issue and that international students were the largest contributor to temporary migration.
(Phil Honeywood, CEO, Australian Association of International Education)
He noted that the various measures taken by the Australian government are having a negative impact on struggling industries. They want to move the industry forward by improving the quality of their students rather than the quantity.
There is some controversy over the interpretation of the March data.
The decline in international student arrivals may have been influenced by the 176,000 arrivals to Australia in the previous month. February's data could be that students are trying to get in early before the stricter rules actually come into effect, or that graduates are delaying their departure for some reason.
The government is expected to significantly increase student visa fees in the May budget to further reduce the number of applications. In addition, the imposition of a hard limit on the total number of people is also considered to be under consideration, and the cost of applying for a visa for international students will rise significantly.