Australia has frozen the number of training colleges that are entitled to admit foreign students, in its latest effort to curtail overseas enrolments.
The assistant minister for international education, Julian Hill, has directed the vocational training regulator to stop considering applications from institutions seeking to be included on, or have new courses added to, the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students.
The suspension remains in force for a year. It is the first time the government has exercised its power to defer the processing of new provider registrations, under an “integrity” bill passed by parliament last November.
While the order explicitly applies to non-government training institutions, the power to extend it to higher education institutions remains open to the government.
Meanwhile, changes flagged in the 12 May federal budget could directly affect international enrolments at universities. The government plans to reform the “points test” which gatekeeps the admission of most skilled migrants to Australia.
