SYDNEY, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The treasurer of Australia's state of Victoria has warned that a national cap on international student numbers will devastate the economy.
The state's Treasurer Tim Pallas on Wednesday said that the federal government's international student cap could cost Victoria 12,000 jobs and billions of dollars.
"A cap on international students is a cap on economic growth. These caps will devastate our state's economy, lead to skills shortages and cost us thousands of jobs," he told local media The Age.
Australia's Federal Education Minister Jason Clare on Tuesday announced that the government will cap new international student enrolments at universities and vocational education providers at 270,000 in 2025.
The cap will allow for 145,000 international student commencements at publicly-funded universities in 2025, 95,000 in the vocational education and training (VET) sector and 30,000 at other universities and non-university higher education providers.
Overall, the cap would set new international student commencements at about 7,000 below 2019 levels and 53,000 below the 2023 figure.
Pallas said that Victoria, Australia's second-most populous state, holds approximately 30 percent of the national market share of international student enrolments and that education is its biggest export, generating 14.8 billion Australian dollars (10 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue in 2023 and supporting 63,000 jobs.
Duncan Maskell, the vice-chancellor of Victoria's University of Melbourne, said in a statement on Tuesday that the university is strongly opposed to the cap.
"The cap on international students will have detrimental consequences for our University, the higher education sector generally, and the nation for years to come."
He said that the effects of the cap would be felt by students and staff in the form of inadequate funding to teach and do research and that it would jeopardize the sector's reputation and long-term sustainability. ■
