Several Indian media outlets this week began circulating claims that some Australian educational institutions are currently banning or restricting student applications from Indian states like Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat. These reports, however, misrepresent the present situation and appear to rely on outdated information, in some cases citing our 2023 coverage without the full context. A previous report by The Australia Today from late 2023, which highlighted temporary concerns within Australian universities regarding applications from certain Indian states, has resurfaced, but this time in a misleading context. No ban, confirms Australian High Commission In response to the renewed media speculation, the…

The United Kingdom’s most recent international education strategy was released in 2019. It set a target of attracting 600,000 overseas students by 2030 – a threshold that was reached in 2020 – and of seeing the sector reach £35 billion in economic value by 2030. A new international education strategy is expected from government later this year.Ahead of its release comes a new report from the International Higher Education Commission, an independent group of sector experts formed with the goal of establishing “a new ‘International Education Strategy 2.0’ in partnership with the Higher Education community.” The Commission’s latest contribution to…

Please can the grownups in the room explain to everyone that foreign students are not immigrants – they are customers (Trump is pushing students towards Britain – ministers, don’t let your immigration obsession stand in the way, 11 April). We don’t call tourists immigrants, so why should we call students that? They come, give us their money for the excellent service we provide, then go home – mostly, taking with them a lifelong positive attitude to the UK, our “soft power”.The only reason they were kept in the “immigrants” bracket was so that previous governments could cut their number easily,…

GLOBAL Interest by prospective international students in the ‘Big Four’ study destinations – the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia – declined by 14% in the year ending January 2025. This decline follows a 22% decline the previous year, says a study released by ApplyBoard that measures ‘interest’ by the average monthly keyword search for ‘study destination’ on its website.Interest in studying in Canada has declined the most, from an average of 28,600 inquiries per month in 2022 to 20,500 in 2024 to 13,600 inquiries in the latest report: a 52.4% decrease over three years, states the study, “Major English…

A college that was investigated by the government over its franchised provision will no longer be able to access student loan funding after “falling well short” on recruitment and attendance. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has taken action against Oxford Business College, with many of its existing students being offered transfers to alternative courses. Phillipson said “credible concerns” had been raised about the college, which, because of its university partnerships, had been able to offer courses that were eligible for student support. These were investigated by the Government Internal Audit Agency, Phillipson revealed in a written statement to the House of Commons,…

The Trump administration is intensifying its scrutiny of US higher education institutions and international students. As of April 14, reports NAFSA, “there have been almost 1,300 reports of international students and scholars either having their visa revoked and/or their record in SEVIS [the database where international student records are stored] terminated, thereby jeopardizing their legal status in the United States.”Staff working in international departments of universities and colleges across the country report a sense of helplessness as they receive emails telling them to hand over student records or face dire consequences. They are trading stories on private forums and looking…

About 50 per cent of the 327 international students whose US visas were revoked or Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records terminated recently — as per reports collected by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) so far — are Indian.Based on reports from students, attorneys and university employees, AILA, in a policy brief dated April 17, said 14 per cent of these students are from China, and “other significant countries represented in this data include South Korea, Nepal and Bangladesh”. Indians constituted the largest international student cohort in the US in 2023-24, according to data from Open Doors.…

The UK should continue to aim for growth in overseas student numbers but universities must not rule out reform of the imperfect graduate visa, according to a new report that aims to shape the country’s coming new international education strategy. Academics, sector representatives and former government ministers who sit on the International Higher Education Commission (IHEC) have stopped short of setting a new target for international students coming to the UK but instead said the number should rise “at a pace that can be accommodated through necessary changes in support mechanisms”, including public services and housing. Its report, published on 16…

University representatives are calling for a consistent approach from the Westminster government towards international students, with the graduate route visa apparently remaining at risk. Ministers are expected to produce a plan for immigration in the coming months that could include changes to the UK’s post-study work visa, which currently allows international graduates to stay and work in the country for two years.  The graduate route was thought to be partly responsible for the surge in international student recruitment that followed its introduction in 2021, although this has since been punctured by the ban on most learners bringing dependants with them to the…