Yesterday, the Department of Home Affairs announced via PRISMs that Minister Burke had paused the implementation of the September 2024 Evidence Level changes.
The message, which can be seen here, read:
“Following a review of the Evidence Level outcomes for the period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, on 25 September the Minister for Home Affairs, The Hon Tony Burke MP, decided to pause the country and education provider Evidence Level changes that were scheduled to occur at the end of September 2024.
The Evidence Level update is now intended to occur to align with the passage of the ESOS legislation and the removal or replacement of Ministerial Direction 107, subject to the decision of the Minister.
The pause will allow education providers to revise their recruitment processes following the passage of the ESOS legislation introducing the National Planning Level. Should the ESOS legislation not pass, the Minister will determine the appropriate timeframe for application of the Evidence Level changes.”
The Koala has today done some digging and is reliably informed that the following is the current situation:
35 providers would have improved their EL rating
3 from EL 2 to EL1, and
32 from EL 3 to EL 2
162 providers would have their EL ratings lowered
44 from EL 1 to EL 2,
115 from EL 2 to EL 3, and
3 from EL 1 to EL 3
It is important to note that those decreasing from EL2 to 3 may not be for poor performance with visas; rather, it can be caused by falling to the default level, i.e. fewer than 50 primary course enrolments in the period, of which many are suspected in this category.
The Koala further understands that several universities were caught up in the move EL2 to EL3 which pre-empted the decision to pause the scheduled implementation at the end of last month.
