The Coalition’s decision to oppose the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendments (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024 is a welcome relief for communities, students and staff that would have been adversely affected by the passing of the legislation and have been struggling with the uncertain policy environment.
Group of Eight (Go8) Chief Executive Vicki Thomson said, “this outcome puts Australia’s national interest ahead of short-term political posturing and restores certainty.
“The Coalition, Greens and Independents intention to oppose the Government’s Bill in the Senate opens the door for a constructive discussion about how we should not only manage growth in the international education sector but how we fund our university based research effort.
“The Go8 supports managed growth that is founded on integrity and quality and we have long said we need a sensible discussion about how to achieve this.
“From the outset the Government’s plan to cap international students was chaotic, short sighted and not in the long term national interest. International students were blamed for everything from the housing crisis to rising cost of living, yet responsible for neither. International students became the scapegoat in a politically motivated migration debate.
“A Bill intended to weed out shonky and dodgy providers developed into a genuine threat to Australia’s most successful services export worth $51 billion, international education.
“There’s no question we need to have a discussion about how we manage the sector going forward – including timely and fair visa processing procedures for international students – but importantly we need to recognise how we got into this position.
“Successive governments have encouraged and supported Australia’s international education sector but it has come at the expense of adequately funding our domestic teaching and our research.
For the Go8, which invests $8.5 billion annually into R&D, representing 70 percent of Australia’s university research, this has meant we have operated under a distorted funding model that has become increasingly reliant on international fee revenue.
“It’s clearer than ever that now is the time to take a genuine look at how Australia’s university sector is funded.”