The international education sector is reacting to the Senate Committee Report into the ESOS Amendment Bill tabled in Parliament on Wednesday night, with the Group of Eight saying that the Report “provides no clarity on the future for Australia for Australia’s higher education system and our most successful services export sector – international education”.
Group of Eight Chief Executive Vicki Thomson said, “Nothing the Committee has recommended by way of amendments will change the fact that a blunt cap on international students will destroy Australia’s $50 billion international education sector and have long-lasting impacts on the economy”.
As The Koala reported (TKN 101024), debate on the Bill in the Senate will not occur until the next sitting period on 18 November at the earliest, with one of the consequences being that Ministerial Direction 107 will remain in place. The Government has previously said that it will not revoke MD107 until the ESOS Amendment Bill receives royal assent.
Universities Australia targeted its comments at this delay, estimating that it could cost the economy a further $722 million by leaving MD107 in place until the debate.
“We can’t wait another 38 days – our economy needs the boost international education provides now and our universities need certainty and stability to deliver for the nation,” said Mr Luke Sheehy, Universities Australia (UA) Chief Executive Officer.
Sheehy accused the Government of “Wilfully weakening a $50 billion sector that supports around 250,000 jobs is economic vandalism without precedent”.
In its media release, UA provides a breakdown of the cost of MD107, estimating that the Australian economy loses $19m every day MD107 is in place. It does this by comparing higher education visa grants from 2022/23 to 2023/24. It also includes a table by Federal electorate of where it says MD107 is having the most impact, naming the electorate and the current member.
UA has relentlessly pursued revoking of MD107, which has puzzled some industry experts, with Claire Field, Principal, Claire Field & Associates and Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy at the Australian National University, questioning the sector’s focus on MD107.
“If MD107 is revoked and no new visa processing officials are hired by the Department of Home Affairs…it will not change decision making on approving or rejecting student visa applications”, said Field in early September. Norton shares Field’s views, saying in his blog this week, “I think the sector over-rates the benefits that would follow. 107 is blamed for other things that happened around the same time that would not be affected if it went”.
A deeper dive on its calculations is needed, but it is a clear strategy of UA to highlight multimillion dollar economic losses in the electorates of individual members of parliament, in advance of an upcoming election.
Thomson also responded to the delay in debating the Bill, saying, “No other multibillion-dollar industry sector would be expected to set budgets for the next 12 months in a context of great uncertainty about a future revenue stream. Universities are effectively being held to ransom by a political play around migration ahead of an election”.
“It’s in the best interests of the nation that this piece of legislation is delayed indefinitely, or better still scrapped altogether,” said Thomson.
The Koala’s analysis of the Report is available here.
