During what has been widely speculated as the final sitting of Parliament before the Federal election, Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson, Shadow Minister for Education, sought a raft of information from the Government relating to international students in Australia.
Documents were tabled last Friday, and in a ‘not-very-Valentine’s’ message, a substantial amount of the data sought has not been provided. And there is not a lot of insight in the information that has been tabled.
Notice of Motions No. 737-740
Senator Henderson wasn’t in Parliament to move the motions herself, however, she didn’t hold back with her request for data from the Ministers for Education, Skills and Training, and Home Affairs. A summary of what was requested is provided at the end.
Henderson may have been emboldened to seek the information following the unprecedented amount of data, including what had previously been considered of a commercial-in-confidence nature, being made available during the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee inquiry into the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024.
Concerns within the sector about this information being made public ranged from its commercial-in-confidence nature through to the context in which it was being sought, and what the information would be used for.
My own comment at the time the motions were moved was that Henderson would be using this information against the Government in the lead up to the election, as well as to inform the policy agenda of the Coalition should it be elected (we already know the Coalition favours capping international student enrolments).
Response from Minister for Education
In the response from Minister for Education, Jason Clare, acknowledges the commercial sensitivity of the data, however the terms of the Senate motions prevail. His cover letter says “the data requested raise valid considerations regarding commercially sensitive information. In order to respond appropriately to the terms of the Senate motions, the data is provided in full irrespective of these considerations”.
Motion 737 – National Planning Level data
Nothing to see here. The Government had previously released a National Planning Level of 270,000 New Overseas Student Commencements (NOSC) in the context of the ESOS Amendment Bill. With some minor changes being made to the NOSC under Ministerial Direction 111, this is now 269,500.
Motion 738 – Higher education data
The requested NOSC for 2024 has been provided to September 2024, the latest publicly available data. Note that an estimate of 2024 NOSC was provided as part of the ESOS Amendment Bill inquiry.
In a comparison of the two lists for Group of Eight members based in Sydney and Melbourne (which we know are on Henderson’s hit list), the only university to see a slight increase is The University of New South Wales, with the other universities down on the estimated 2024 list.
The indicative international student profiles for 2025 (also known as the indicative allocation under MD111) have already been published and the link is provided.
Unsurprisingly, the response from Government on 2026 profiles is that they are not available and will be a future decision of Government.
Finally, the numbers of international and domestic students onshore for 2024 will not be available until mid-2025.
Motion 739 – VET data
As with the higher education data, NOSCs for 2024 have only been provided to September 2024, the most current available data.
The data that was tabled during the Senate Committee inquiry for the VET sector was the NOSC to July 2024. It’s possible that the Opposition may make comparisons between the two lists to determine any significant shifts, up or down, in the wake of the impact of Ministerial Direction 107. Time that I don’t have!
Like higher education, indicative international student profiles for 2025 have already been published and the link is provided. And the response on 2026 profiles is along the same lines as higher education.
The response on the numbers of international and domestic students onshore for 2024 is that it will not be available before August 2025.
Motion 740 – Student visas
In response to the request for visa applications, grants and refusals by provider, the response from the Government reads, in part:
“The release of information at the individual education provider level and their visa outcomes would cause competitive disadvantage to providers or relative advantage to other providers. Information relating to visa refusals, grants, or grant rates at the provider level have been observed to affect agents or prospective students’ intentions to apply at a particular provider, which has a direct consequence on commercial outcomes.”
Total student visa application and approval data for onshore and offshore has been provided, although this data is publicly available through the Government’s data sets.
A table of lodgements appealing a refusal or cancellation of a student visa by month in 2024 has a typo, dating the data as at 7 February 2024, but must be 2025. This data has been extracted by the Administrative Review Tribunal and shows a total of 22,762 appeals in 2024.
There were 5,426 lodgements for protection visas in 2024 by persons whose initial visa was a 500 series Student visa.
Motion 740 (continued) – temporary graduate visas
In response to the motion’s request for the number of temporary graduate visa holders by location, the Department of Home Affairs says that it does not monitor the location of Temporary Graduate Visa holders onshore. It also doesn’t hold destination data for departing Temporary Graduate Visa holders.
We do learn, though that more than 102,000 Subclass 485 Temporary Graduate visas ceased in 2024.
If the point of asking for length on a 485 visa was to prove a ‘permanently temporary’ cohort, the data does not support this argument. Just over half of the 200k 485 visa holders as at 31 January 2025 had been on that visa for less than a year. And 67k of these have less than one year left on that visa.
Summary of Motion
The latest available data relating to the calculation of the National Planning Level for new international student commencements.
For each higher education provider (public and private) and for each CRICOS registered vocational education and training provider, the latest available data for the following:
(a) the number of new overseas student commencements in 2024
(b) the indicative international student profiles as proposed for 2025
(c) the indicative international student profiles as proposed for 2026
(d) the number of onshore international students for 2024
(e) the number of onshore domestic students for 2024
(f) the total number of onshore (domestic and onshore international) students for 2024
(g) onshore international enrolments as a proportion of total onshore enrolments for 2024.
(a) with respect to student visa applications:
(i) the number of offshore student visa applications for each education provider approved for the calendar year 2024
(ii) the number of offshore student visa applications for each education provider denied for the calendar year 2024
(iii) the number of onshore student visa applications for each education provider approved for the calendar year 2024
(iv) the number of onshore student visa applications for each education provider denied for the calendar year 2024
(v) the number of onshore and offshore student visa applications received by month for the calendar year 2024
(vi) the total number of onshore and offshore student visa applications approved for the calendar year 2024
(vii) the number of student visa applications where the applicant or their agent have lodged an appeal to a refusal or cancellation for each month of the calendar year 2024
(viii) the number of student visa holders which have submitted a subclass 866 Protection visa application for each month of the calendar year 2024
(b) with respect to temporary graduate visas:
(i) the number of temporary graduate visa holders by location (using city/suburb, postcode or relevant data) for each of the calendar years 2019 to 2024 as at December in each year, or the latest available data for 2024
(ii) the number of temporary graduate visa holders whose visa terminated for each of the calendar years 2019 to 2024
(iii) the destination of temporary graduate visa holders (for those exiting Australia) for each of the calendar years 2019 to 2024
(iv) the duration temporary graduate visa holders remained on a temporary graduate visa prior to exiting Australia for each of the calendar years 2019 to 2024
(v) the number of current temporary graduate visa holders:
(A) by how long the visa holder has remained in Australia while holding a temporary graduate visa, including any subsequent temporary graduate visa where relevant, in one-year increments (including less than one year)
(B) by how long remains on their current visa in one-year increments (including less than one year)
(c) with respect to skilled visas:
(i) the total number of visa applications for each skilled visa subclass for each of the calendar years 2019 to 2024
(ii) the total number of visa applications for each skilled visa subclass whereby an applicant is nominating an Australian study requirement in each of the calendar years 2019 to 2024
Henderson’s request can be seen here.
Tabled documents can be seen here, VET data here, and visa data here.
