Good morning

The Group of Eight universities are trying to head off the proposed cap on numbers of student visas which is shaping as the Albanese government’s next move in its bid to reduce migration numbers ahead of the federal election. The Go8 has published a new paper in support of its campaign, presenting arguments that the rental crisis, and the broader cost-of-living crisis, were not sparked by the rapid return of international students after Covid.

Labor MP Julian Hill, who was the Victorian state government official in charge of that state’s international education strategy before he entered federal parliament, is also campaigning against a “blunt, hard cap” on student visas, which he warns would deter the high quality international students that Australia wants.

However universities are not united in their opposition to student visa caps. Some universities in smaller cities like the idea of a particular type of cap which would limit international students going to the big cities, where rental markets are tight, but allow them to go to campuses in other locations.

The 2024-25 federal budget is coming on May 14 and, although the higher education sector is eagerly awaiting the government’s full response to the Universities Accord review, don't expect that all will be revealed in the budget.

However the budget is expected to include some Accord announcements around more student equity measures, easing the impact of inflation on students with HELP debt, and setting up a new all-powerful overseer of higher education, the Australian Tertiary Education Commission. But major higher education reform is not likely to happen until the commission is fully up and running which is a year or more away.

Until next Wednesday