Submissions to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee Inquiry into the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024 [Provisions] closed on 1 July and 64 submissions have been published to date, including my submission, which is available here.
Although there are multiple issues with the Bill, I limited my focus to the inherent difficulties of managing enrolment caps, the exemptions that should be considered, and the harshness of the penalty of automatic suspension if the cap is exceeded.
One of the key points I made was “…based on my experience in both policymaking and implementation, the practicalities of the operating environment of international education providers have not been sufficiently considered in the drafting of the legislation. This leaves me concerned that education providers will be forced to direct resources to legislative compliance rather than improving the student experience, leading to unnecessary job losses as revenue declines.”
If we assume that the sector has lost the fight on the imposition of enrolment caps, given it is now divided and bargaining with the government about possible percentage limits, attention needs to be on ensuring that the management of caps is not so overly burdensome as to be a disincentive.
This is especially important with the Department of Education’s submission stating that “Once a provider reaches its limit, the provider will not be able to issue any further confirmations of enrolment for the remainder of that calendar year and therefore will not exceed its enrolment limit.”
The “solution” of managing enrolment caps through the confirmation of enrolment (eCoE) system is fraught and it is impossible to see how it can be successfully applied.
Firstly, as I point out in my submission, an acceptance of offer (ie an eCoE being issued) doesn’t equal a visa being granted. This means that there will be eCoEs issued by providers allocated against their cap that never come to fruition. There’s also been no additional reassurance from government that enrolment caps will mean visa certainty, and as we’ve seen from the lack of transparency in the visa grant process over the past twelve months, this is especially troubling.
Secondly, as Andrew Norton points out in his summary of the various government agency submissions (TKN 050724), both the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and ASQA have expressed concerns about the capabilities of the government systems to manage enrolment caps, with DHA flagging that this is “is likely to require significant development for both the Department and the Department of Education”. If the systems are unreliable then providers will spend large chunks of time arguing with government departments about the accuracy of the data being used.
As I have previously discussed, there is also the impact of enrolment caps on students who do not complete their pathway program on time (TKN 250624). Using the eCoE adds another layer of complexity, as systems will show that the student is due to start at the primary provider even after the student has failed to progress, until the systems are updated by providers. With pathways results often being released quite close to the start of the semester data accuracy is going to be an issue.
Finally, an eCoE is per person, not student load (EFTSL – equivalent full-time student load). And although international students are required to be enrolled full-time, there are exceptions. It is not unusual for a major university with a large international student body to have a percentage of students enrolled part-time. Again, this provides a disincentive to providers, for example to allow a student who only has one or two units left to complete.
While the intent of the ESOS Bill to ensure quality and integrity in the sector may be commendable, its practical application raises significant concerns. With government being ill-advised by those who lack an understanding of the complexities of managing international student loads, it can only be hoped that the Senate Committee considers the voices in the other submissions when it hands down its report on 15 August.
