Good afternoon

Signs of dissension are appearing in the ranks of Australian universities as they respond to the Albanese government’s plans to cap the number of international students in the country.

Reponses range from outright opposition to limits on international students from the Group of Eight universities – which dominate the high-paying Chinese student market and use international student fee revenue to pay for research programs ­– to universities with lower proportions of international students which hope to benefit, depending on where Education Minister Jason Clare sets the caps.

If the legislation to establish the caps passes the Senate (and it probably will given that the Opposition is also in favour of limiting international student numbers) Clare will be able to set individual caps for each university and other educational institutions, down to course level.

The fight will be on between vice-chancellors to ensure their university gets reasonable treatment, and all the power will be in the hands of the minister.

Deakin University vice-chancellor Iain Martin wants a level playing field with a 35 per cent international student cap for all universities, a limit of 50 per cent of students from any one country at each institution, and a limit of 40 per cent international students enrolled in any broad field of education at each institution.

Insofar at the same rule would apply to everybody this proposal is fair, until you consider that some universities which are attractive to international students are currently well over these limits and would suffer major financial damage if they were forced to reduce. Deakin is currently inside the limit suggested by Martin.

There will be much argy-bargy to come between universities as the international student caps policy takes shape.

Until next Wednesday