ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
One of the nation’s most esteemed Yuan-to-AUD Conversion Facilities, the University of Sydney, is reeling from the Albanese government’s latest announcement to cap universities at enrolling a maximum of 40% of their students from overseas starting in January 2025. This decision has has left institutions Sydney University fearing for their financial stability.
“It’s the backbone of higher education in this country, converting Yuan to a Bachelor of whatever,” lamented the University of Sydney’s Junior-Vice-Chancellor, Professor Penny Pynch AO.
“If these caps go into effect, it’s not just the universities that will feel the pinch. Our entire operation hinges on the steady influx of international student fees. There’s just no money in educating exceptional public school students and the sustained mediocrity that is students from Sydney-based private schools.”
Details of the cap have been leaked, revealing that the limit will be in place for two years, using 2019 figures as the baseline. About ten universities currently enrol more than 40% of their students from overseas, including the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne, Monash, and the University of Queensland. The University of Sydney, for instance, would need to shed 12,150 places, while the University of Melbourne would drop 7,725 overseas student places.
“Imagine trying to manage a budget with this kind of uncertainty,” continued Pynch, echoing the concerns of many university administrators.
“This last-minute decision will have shocking economic consequences in a cost-of-living crisis. It will make rents cheaper around universities at a time when our nation’s landlords are doing it tough. Many of them investing when money was cheap, now it’s not. Around our Camperdown campus, we have had all this student housing built by developers. They would’ve built apartments for families and workers had they known these caps were coming,”
“These mindless cuts will make us insolvent, well, we might have to focus on delivering a quality education to 60% of our student population while we just fleece the other 40. There are tough times ahead.”
More to come.
