Changes to Canada’s intake of international students provides food for thought.
Recent changes to Australia’s policies towards overseas students have mirrored the Canadian government’s amendments to its international education sector.
Universities Canada president and chief executive Gabriel Miller addressed the future of international students in Australia at a recent Committee for Economic Development of Australia event.
Mr Miller, who heads an organisation covering 97 universities, said the impact of the national cap in overseas students had been far greater than what the Canadian government imagined.
Canada imposed a limit on international student visas in 2024; a 35 per cent reduction from enrolments in 2023.
A further 10 per cent reduction was implemented in 2025, to be continued in 2026.
“At least half of the new students coming into the country to attend the universities have disappeared,” Mr Miller said.
“What’s been left is the rump of international recruitment system and a system whose flaws have now become much more exposed because suddenly the country is working much harder to bring in the students it needs.
“The worst symptom of that is a brand that has taken a huge hit internationally, particularly in places in India, and a visa processing system that’s just not competitive with the other parts of the world.”
Canada’s move to impose foreign caps was closely monitored in Australia, since the federal government announced its plan to do the same.
In August 2024, the federal government capped the overseas student enrolments to 270,000 across tertiary and vocational education providers in Australia.
The government announced an increase earlier this year, adding 25,000 places for the 2026 intake, bringing the national planning level to 295,000.
The crackdown in student numbers came as international arrivals surged after the country locked its borders because of the pandemic.
Mr Miller said trying to mitigate the high international arrival numbers after Covid was also behind the Canadian government’s changes to its policies on overseas students.
“The really big lesson is, don’t make public policy in a panic,” he said.
“It leaves the new [Canadian] government, under Prime Minister [Mark] Carney, with a dual objective, which is to return immigration rates to a sustainable level but also to attract the talent that our economy needs.
“We have a way of bringing numbers down, but we’ve thrown away what was one of our most powerful tools for bringing the talent into the country.
“That is the job now to be addressed in the wake of adopting caps.”
Australian Trade and Investment Commission international education director Helen Kronberger, also speaking at the CEDA panel, said overseas student enrolment remained a priority for the federal government.
“It’s really clear now that global disruption to international trade is also changing international student mobility patterns,” she said.
“We saw some of this starting to emerge during the pandemic, but it’s really been consolidated now in changes in student flows.
“Rapidly growing destinations, especially those in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, are really offering a growing number of closer to home but high-quality English-taught programs.
“With that growing competition nationally, it’s always necessary to be promoting the quality and integrity, breadth and depth of Australia’s offering.”
Speaking on the CEDA panel, global immigration law firm Fragomen partner Sasko Markovski said Australia needed to attract quality arrivals.
Mr Markovski said the limited number of post-tertiary education pathways available in Australia was a broader issue in the sector.
“Australia has the opportunity to present itself as the preferred option to international students,” he said.
“We don’t want to close the doors to genuine students.”
Mr Miller acknowledged Canada’s policies on international students had done some good but said there were many lessons to be taken.
“It’s important to be more thoughtful and have a deeper dialogue with the public and with stakeholders than Canada was when it made some pretty dramatic changes to its immigration system,” Mr Miller said.
“You need to be having a discussion [about] not just how many, but who.
“We haven’t designed our policies to keep the people who we want coming to the country.
“Start holding government accountable for how you are going to recruit and who are you going to let in.”
