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Australia’s proposed move to impose a cap on international student enrollments — to be voted on by the Australian Senate later this month — has opened up a can of worms for Indian students.
Australia has long been a favored destination for Indian higher education students looking to study abroad — more than 125,000 Indian students were studying there in 2023, representing the second largest group of international students in the country behind China.
But this potential change in policy continues a worrying trend, coming so soon after similar policy changes in Canada and rumblings of possible changes in the United Kingdom.
In Australia, the international student cap is seen as a way to negate opposition criticism of a post-COVID international education boom in the middle of a cost of living crisis and tight housing market. Notably, the proposal comes ahead of a federal election due by May next year.
It follows multiple changes to Australia’s migration policy over the last year, also designed to curb the number of people choosing to study there.
Not only will these policy changes have immediate and foreseeable implications for Australia, Canada, and the U.K., they will also impact India — the second largest higher education system in the world with 1.33 million students studying abroad in 2024. Host countries will likely see a decline in GDP, as is already being forecast for Canada, while Indian students will face challenges in finding alternative courses and institutions.
Past international student-friendly policies in countries like Australia have attracted the high-fliers from India, who aspire to undertake quality education that enhances their future career prospects. These are the price-sensitive value maximizer students opting to study science, technology, engineering or mathematics subjects.
There is now growing popularity in India for skill-based education, particularly when it comes to equipping students with the skills they’ll need for the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0: artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, geopolitics, and environment sustainability.
The recent migration policy changes in Australia and Canada will have an immense impact on where Indian students choose to move for higher education to pursue such studies. It is highly likely that such students will instead now opt for European countries like Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Poland, or Hungary.
Another attractive alternative for Indian students could be Middle Eastern countries, particularly the UAE, and other Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan where students can experience more welcoming migration policies, lower living costs, affordable tuition fees, scholarships and financial aids, post-study employment opportunities, and diverse cultural experiences.
These countries are likely to enjoy a comparative advantage in the international trade in education as part of the global knowledge economy in the near future, due to this expected growth in Indian student enrollments.
However, it’s likely the prestige-conscious experience seekers — another segment of students from India who can afford the higher cost of such courses — will continue opting for undergraduate courses in subjects other than science, technology, engineering, or mathematics in countries like the United States. They won’t be impacted as much by the proposed and enacted caps as they will continue opting for fairly high-ranked institutions irrespective of the cost of education.
Hybrid learning — which allows students to split their learning experiences between a host country and their home country by completing half of their study at a home institution and half abroad at their preferred foreign institution — could be a cost-minimizing option for Indian students. This allows them to access the experience of an international education and degree from top-tier international institutions, enhancing their employment prospects but without the attached costs.
In the case of Australia, such transnational education programs have also been exempt from the proposed student cap, provided the student spends at least 40 percent of their course outside the country.
India has its own aspirations toward becoming a destination for world-class higher education. One of the ways India is pursuing that is through the establishment of branch campuses. The Indian government’s National Education Policy, 2020, encouraging the opening of branch campuses by top QS ranked global higher education institutions, creates avenues for high-flier Indian students to study for their qualification in India while reaping the benefits of affiliation to a renowned international university. This allows students to access world-class education at an affordable price. Then they can explore lucrative employment opportunities either in India or abroad after receiving their degree.
This is part of India’s vision for Viksit Bharat 2047, which encourages such international collaborations. It has resulted in the establishment of the first branch campuses in Gujarat by the collaborative efforts of the state government and Australia’s Deakin University and the U.K.’s University of Southampton.
But even as India begins to realize its educational aspirations, the migration policies, visa regulations, affordability, standards of living, and employment opportunities in destination countries will continue playing an important role in enticing Indian students abroad in the near future. Only time will tell whether India will be able to reverse this trend and perhaps even encourage more foreign students to study in the country.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info.
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