Offshore student visa applications fell by almost 40 per cent in 2024, compared to the previous year. In real terms, that's roughly 120,000 fewer prospective students seeking to study in Australia.
These are not students who had their applications delayed or denied under the government's oft-changing visa processing rules — though visa approvals are also down — but those who never applied in the first place.
And according to the higher education sector, that's a by-product of a chaotic crackdown on an industry that has long been heralded as amongst the best in the world.
"The message has gone out to our key student source markets that they're not welcome here," says Phil Honeywood, chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia. "And they're voting with their feet."