Much has been talked about regarding enrolment limits at Australian institutions. CRICOS registration capacity allocations exist, and the Koala thought it would look at the top 15 universities.
Data can be difficult to source to accurately represent this situation. 2023 enrolment data is not anticipated to be published until October and 2022 data is compromised by COVID’s residual impact. 2023 Annual Report data is also difficult to align due to inconsistent reporting.
With that in mind, the Koala has compared May CRICOS allocation data (top 15 Universities) against 2019 international enrolment data.
This is what we found:
Each top 15 allocation institution appears to have a decent way to go until they reach their approved capacity. The one exception is The University of Queensland, which has an allocation of 20,005 students. In 2019, it enrolled onshore 19,924, being 99.6 per cent of its approved allocation. To contrast this The University of Western Australia has a CRICOS allocation of 14,000 while enrolling onshore 3875 in 2019. This is 27.7 per cent of its approved allocation.
With the government seeking to significantly reduce the number of international students studying at CRICOS-registered institutions, it has a chasm to jump. Not only does it intend to lower current numbers, but it must also work out a way to explain to the sector and the community at large how these allocations were agreed to in the first place.
Most universities are currently enrolling students well below any previously agreed allocations or in layman’s terms – caps.
