Australia’s two-faced international education policies

Anna Kent on the latest changes and contradictions of the Australian government toward international students

Nearly 20 years ago the Australian government decided it wanted to bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council. As part of that bid, they massively expanded the Australia Awards program (Australia’s development scholarship scheme) – into Africa and Latin America. Although we cannot say for certain what swayed those nations voting, Australian leaders claimed that the successful bid reflected respect for Australia is a good global citizen.

This week Anthony Albanese is in New York, bidding again for a seat on the Security Council. In the lead up to this bid, I wondered if scholarships might feature in this bid, it is after all a very useful diplomatic ‘token’.

But last week, in Canberra, the Australian government made changes to the policy settings for international students in Australia, announcing a restriction of family accompanying students. My LinkedIn feed is full of testimonials of students who were able to travel to Australia with their partners, citing this as a crucial support network and an influence on their choice to come to Australia.

These changes are only the latest of a series imposed upon the system since the election of the Albanese government in 2023, all of which have had a significant and confusing impact on one of Australia’s largest export sectors. With one hand Australia tells the world about our wonderful higher education system, and encourages people to come here. With the other hand it forcefully tells people to stay away.

As a historian of international education in Australia, I am unsurprised by this move.

This confusing approach to international education is not new. In the 1940s, Australia sought to impress upon its neighbours that it was welcoming to students. William MacMahon Ball did a tour of South East Asia spruiking Australia, and the new South East Asia Scholarship Scheme. Soon after they had the Colombo Plan to show their commitment to supporting the educational aspirations of South and South East Asia.

But this was only the message of the Department of External Affairs. The message of the Department of Immigration was…well, it was the White Australia Policy. This tension between welcome and refusal has continued over the decades.

Confused and confusing messages had, until recently, largely not affected Australia’s appeal as a destination for study. But recent changes, especially huge increases to non-refundable visa fees, discussions of caps and a system now called New Overseas Student Commencement (NOSC), the closure of an entire course, and now restrictions on family members being able to travel with their studying partner, child or parent, are making a real dent in Australia’s reputation as a destination of choice for the millions of students who travel overseas for study. Meanwhile, Austrade and DFAT continue to work to “sell” Australia’s education sector to the world.

I’ve written and spoken about this disconnect before. As a historian, I can note down the dates of these events in hope that I will be in a position to check in on the files when the archives open in 20 years. But for those working on the coalface, talking to prospective students and working with students in Australia already, these are not abstract conversations. When deciding where to invest your time, money and emotion into overseas study these are consequential policies. And for those looking at how to keep a university running, with no indication of further government funding but a willingness of government to throttle one source of income, these are consequential policies.

While in the past, policy power has swung between those who welcome international students and those who want to keep them out, in 2026, the inter-government debates on international education seem to be dominated by the latter. As long as the current government continues to pander to a far-right disinformation campaign about immigration, those who aspire for a more engaging international education policy are shouting into the wind. Lets see what those voting for the UN Security Council Seat think…