E&OE 

LISA MILLAR: The university sector is warning that 14,000 jobs will go if the government caps international student numbers. Universities Australia says that’s about 10 per cent of the national workforce. CEO Luke Sheehy joins us now from Canberra. Luke, good morning to you. Thanks for joining us. 

LUKE SHEEHY: Good to be with you, Lisa. 

LISA MILLAR: Can we just talk about the numbers first of all. The reports this week say that the cap that might be brought into place could be 40 per cent of the student numbers that international students would be capped at. Is that what you understand the government is aiming for? I know Jason Clare’s office has said ‘look, we’re still consulting’, but what’s your understanding? 

LUKE SHEEHY: We’ve seen the reports that there might be a 40 per cent cap, but there’s certainly no evidence that that’s been decided upon yet. We’ll continue to make the case as we have been this week and the last couple of months for a really great outcome for Australia’s university sector, which relies so heavily on international students as part of what we do. Until we see more evidence from the government, we’ll wait and see. I’m not sure if that’s where they’ll land yet. 

LISA MILLAR: What’s the 14,000 figure that you’ve come up with? Where do those jobs go from? 

LUKE SHEEHY: What I want to make clear is that we want to make sure as many higher education jobs are preserved in Australia. 14,000 jobs is a number that we’ve calculated based on the current visa changes and visa processing changes that the then Home Affairs Minister introduced in December of last year. What we’re seeing with that, Ministerial Direction 107, is chaos in the visa processing system and 60,000 fewer higher education international student visas issued in the last year alone. On our calculations, with four international students supporting one higher education job, 14,000 jobs could be at risk. We don’t want to see any jobs lost in higher education because it’s such an important part of Australia’s economy, and teaching students and delivering the research that we do is so important for our economic and social success. 

LISA MILLAR: You raise the broader issue of the Australian economy. What is the expectation of the impact there? 

LUKE SHEEHY: Last year alone and last time I spoke to you, I was talking about slow GDP growth figures, and we know that there is a very slow economic recovery in Australia at the moment. Last year, half of our economic growth came from the international education sector. We are making the case to the Treasurer, to the Prime Minister and his ministers not to undermine this sector unnecessarily because it’s delivering economic growth for Australia. There’s an interdependency, Lisa, not just with our sector, but other sectors that rely on international students and their families coming to Australia like tourism and hospitality. 

LISA MILLAR: Why do you think it’s being pushed through then? 

LUKE SHEEHY: I think there is a political race and a political fight around housing and migration at the moment. The easiest part and the easiest sector to pick on is international education and international students. We know that international students make up a tiny percentage of the private housing market in Australia and to put the entire blame of the housing crisis onto international students is a furphy. We want that to stop. We want Australia to be seen as continuing to be welcoming to international students and having this fight about housing related to international students as the only people to blame for it is nonsense. 

LISA MILLAR: Can we clear up some comments that have been made by critics of the university sector about the number of foreign students who are here having an impact on the number of domestic students who can attend university. Is there a correlation? 

LUKE SHEEHY: Absolutely not, Lisa. I’ve seen this in the 20 years that I’ve worked in this sector. This story has come and gone over many years, and it is nonsense. International students support us to deliver education for Australians. One in every four dollars in our sector comes from international student fees and that supports us to deliver for Australians. There is no truth to the fact that international students take places from Australians. 

LISA MILLAR: What’s the option here? Are you going to try and get the government to delay it? If you can’t get them to change the cap or have it as even more of a temporary measure? 

LUKE SHEEHY: What we’re asking for is at least an implementation of managed growth from 2026, not 2025. On average, it takes one and a half to two years to recruit an international student. We’re saying that if you factor in the complexity of how we manage our system and manage our recruitment, we need more time to implement it. The other issue I would point to is that so many of our regional universities and our universities in the outer suburban growth corridors are ready, willing and able to take international students right now. They’re in a world of financial pain. We want to say to the government, let’s get a fair dinkum deal and make sure we can have a strong, growing international education sector that will help us to deliver for Australians and students as well. 

LISA MILLAR: Luke Sheehy, we’ve continued to cover this story, and we’ll keep doing so. Thanks for coming on this morning. 

ENDS