Good afternoon

The Albanese government's proposed legislation allowing it to cap the number of international students has created huge uncertainty for universities and other tertiary education providers, and this uncertainty will linger for months, right at the time when they need to know how many international students they will be permitted to enrol next year.

The bill has been referred to a Senate committee which won't be reporting until mid-August, and therefore won't be voted on by the Senate until after that date.

But normal operations don't stop for education institutions so they have to go ahead with their usual timetable for taking applications, and making offers, to international students to start next year. However they don't have the benefit of any guidance on how many students they will be able to enrol.

To add another wrinkle of complexity, the actual level of the caps is not specified in the legislation. That will be up to Education Minister Jason Clare to decide after the bill is law and has been granted the power to impose caps. Assuming, of course, that the bill is passed in its current form.

It adds up to a chaotic situation for universities and independent tertiary education providers which educate international students, and this is a key industry which earned Australia $48bn in export revenue last year.

However Mr Clare has provided some relief to education institutions by indicating that he won't exercise the powers the legislation will give him to their full extent. If passed, the bill allows him to put a cap on numbers of international students in individual courses. He says he won't do this. He'll restrict himself to putting a cap on the number each institution can take. A small mercy.

Until next Wednesday