Australia has announced that it will cap its international student intake at 2.7 lakh in 2025, a measure aimed at curbing record-high migration levels that have driven up rental prices across the country. The cap will apply to both higher education and vocational training courses, according to Australia’s Education Minister Jason Clare.
This decision is expected to significantly affect Indian students, particularly from Punjab, who are aspiring to study abroad. Australia had previously set the foreign student intake limit at 5.10 lakh in 2022, reducing it to 3.75 lakh in 2023. Now, the intake is being further restricted. These caps will be distributed among individual universities, which will then allocate quotas by country and state, explained Sunil Jaggi, a member of the Migration Agents Registration Authority of Australia.
Students who were preparing for the February 2025 intake will be most impacted by this announcement, with those from Punjab likely facing the greatest challenges. “This decision will affect my career. My family has taken loans to fund my education, and the cost of studying in Australia is already high,” said a student from Haryana who plans to pursue nursing in Australia.
Many Indian students are urging the Indian government to raise their concerns with Australian authorities. This is especially critical since Australia had signed an agreement during the Australian Education Minister’s visit to India last year, aiming to expand access to Australian education for Indian students within India.
According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, approximately 1.22 lakh Indian students are currently studying in Australia. The country remains the fourth most popular destination for Indian students pursuing education abroad, following Canada, the US, and the UK
This trend is not limited to Australia; Canada has also implemented new restrictions on its temporary foreign workers program. Starting September 26, businesses will only be allowed to fill up to 10% of their workforce with low-wage foreign workers, down from the previous 20%, in response to rising unemployment rates in the country.
