The ESOS Bill was blasted in parliament today (September 11) as a “reckless policy” that would “decimate the tertiary education sector”, with the Albanese government criticised for apparently neglecting to think about how universities would cope without as much money coming in from international student fees.

Because the Senate decided the proposed 270,000 cap to new international student enrolments has not been properly scrutinised, a new hearing on the Bill is set for October 4. This will include further evidence from stakeholders including the Department of Education and the Department of Treasury, and new submissions to the enquiry will be accepted up until September 26, with a report on the Bill due for publication on October 8.

It follows three heated hearings on the legislation, which if passed would allow the government to intervene on the number of students on individual courses, among other powers.

Australia’s beleaguered international education sector has rallied against the legislation amid proposals to cap the number of international student enrolments from 2025, with VET providers set to feel the impact most keenly.

We are staring down the barrel of thousands of job losses [and] irreparable damage to Australia’s reputation as a welcoming destination for international students

Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Green Party

But Clare’s Labor Party was nevertheless accused of being “intent on destroying the international education sector in Australia” as senators rounded on the ESOS Bill in parliament.

“Over three Senate inquiry hearings, we heard from witness after witness – from students, from academics, from universities, from peak bodies and from private providers. They are pretty unanimous in their opposition to this reckless policy and the chaotic process that has brought us to this stage, where a government is hell-bent on decimating the tertiary education sector,” said senator Mehreen Faruqi of the Greens.

“We are staring down the barrel of thousands of job losses, irreparable damage to Australia’s reputation as a welcoming destination for international students and a complete betrayal of the principles of university autonomy and student choice.”

She added: “This is a hot mess. The more details that are forced out of the government, the messier this trainwreck gets.”

And senator Sarah Henderson of the Liberal Party agreed that Anthony Albanese’s government had “made a complete mess of its proposal to cap
international student numbers”.

“In the Senate hearings that we have had into the [ESOS] Bill, the government has done everything it possibly can to keep the actual student caps provided to each higher education and VET provider a secret,” she said.

She continued: “Even last Friday, after we said very strongly that we opposed the way the government was treating the parliament and the sector, they were still keeping all the separate international student caps secret from the Senate committee. That is completely unacceptable. Labor has made a real mockery of the Senate inquiry process.

“What we do know is that, of the provider caps that have now been given to the sector, the total allocation for universities has gone backwards by 1%. But we understand that across the private higher education and VET sectors it has gone back by 28%. So we are seeing gross discrimination at play.”

The ongoing confusion and contradictions continue to damage the confidence of prospective students, parents and agents in Australia as an attractive destination

Neil Fitzroy, Oxford International Education Group

“The potential that further senate review and/or that material amendments are now politically possible is (potentially?!) a faint glimmer of hope in what has otherwise been a torrid time,” Neil Fitzroy, managing director, Australasia at the Oxford International Education Group wrote in a LinkedIn post.

“This process rolls on (and on) – but in the meantime, the ongoing confusion and contradictions continue to damage the confidence of prospective students, parents and agents in Australia as an attractive destination.”

Meanwhile, in a media interview the education minister Jason Clare indicated that he wants the caps to be a permanent fixture, rather than a temporary solution to worries over immigration.

“My intent is for [the policy] to be permanent, but I have flagged in debate in the parliament… that when we establish an Australian Tertiary Education Commission, that will act as a steward for long-term reform of higher education over the next decade and beyond, that I see them as the steward of this system, to help to set in place, not just numbers for Australian students, but numbers for international students as well,” he said at a press conference in Canberra today.

“I’ve been pretty clear about why we’re doing this, which is about returning migration to those pre-pandemic levels. I haven’t hidden that point, and this is a big part of that. And that the Australian government runs the migration system, not the universities,” he continued.