CANBERRA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has more than doubled the visa fee for international students.
The government announced on Monday that, effective immediately, the fee for overseas students applying to study in Australia has been increased to 1,600 Australian dollars (1,064.7 U.S. dollars), up from 710 AUD (472.4 USD) previously.
Clare O'Neil, the Minister for Home Affairs, said in a joint statement with Education Minister Jason Clare, Skills and Training Minister Brendan O'Connor and Andrew Giles, the Minister for Immigration, that the increase was part of the government's plan to rein in record migration to Australia.
"The changes coming into force today will help restore integrity to our international education system, and create a migration system which is fairer, smaller and better able to deliver for Australia," she said.
According to official figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), net overseas migration to Australia surged to a record 548,800 people in the 12 months to the end of September 2023.
The governing Labor Party has set a target of reducing net annual migration to 260,000 by 2025 and in May announced plans to cap international student enrolments after the number of international students in Australia surpassed 700,000 for the first time in February.
Clare said on Monday that the fee increase would strengthen the integrity of Australia's international education system and help fund education and migration initiatives.
The Group of Eight (Go8), a coalition of elite research-intensive universities, said in response that the measure would act as a deterrent to international students and reverse the diversification of countries from which students come to Australia.
"Yet again our international students are being used as cash cows to prop up the economy, the national research effort and now to fund other Government initiatives," chief executive Vicki Thomson said in a statement.
"It is death by a thousand cuts to our most successful services export sector."
International education was worth a record 47.8 billion AUD (31.8 billion USD) to the Australian economy in 2023, up from 26.6 billion AUD (17.7 billion USD) in 2022, according to official figures. ■
