Daily Brief — Australian Education

Presenting at the EAIE conference in Glasgow, IEAA CEO Phil Honeywood reported that total international student commencements in Australia fell to 474,255 in 2025 from 564,952 in 2024, with ELICOS 56% below 2019 levels, VET down 14% year-on-year, and school enrolments 27% below the 2019 baseline — while higher education sits 13% above 2019 — and visa approval rates at approximately 19% for Nepal and 49% for India, with the AUD $2,500 non-refundable application fee characterised as "like a lottery ticket" (16 September). Honeywood identified further restrictions under active consideration, including dependant visa cuts mirroring UK policy and blocking higher education-to-VET pathway switching; Australia retains "probably the most generous" post-study work rights globally. (The PIE, 16 September)

Norton analyses annual permanent residence grants to former international students, finding the total has risen from approximately 20,000 pre-COVID to approximately 31,000 post-COVID while the share transitioning directly from student visa to PR fell from 40% in 2019-20 to 20% in 2024-25, as pathways shifted toward employer-sponsored temporary routes (16 September). 56% of the first 37,349 subclass 482 Skills in Demand visas went to former international students; the government has allocated 58,040 employer-sponsored PR places for 2026-27, up from 44,000 in 2025-26; labour market testing remains an obstacle, though broad exemptions apply for major source markets including China and Vietnam. (Norton, 16 September)

Canada recorded 6,455 new international graduate study permits in Q2 2026, up 109% on Q2 2025, with the graduate share of all new study permits rising from 12% to 21% — a deliberate IRCC policy shift exempting graduate applicants from provincial attestation letter requirements, with UBC reporting doctoral applications from international students up 30% (16 September). IRCC minister Lena Metlege Diab: "We recognise that we need them here to grow our economy." Canada's pivot to a research-stream carveout is a structural differentiation from Australia's settings, which cap total international commencements at 295,000 without a distinct graduate-stream mechanism. (The PIE, 16 September)

Standing figures: 2026 NPL 295,000 (+25,000 on 2025); visa refusal rates 69% Nepal, 42% India (early 2026); domestic commencements 413,133 (+4.3% YoY); $50m over-enrolment fund; $50m Structural Adjustment Fund.

12 October 2026 — 2026 National Student Safety Survey closes (opened 31 August across all 38 Universities Australia member universities; results expected 2027).

17–18 November 2026 — TEQSA 2026 Conference, fully virtual.

19 May 2027 — ASQA 12-month VET/ELICOS registration pause expires.