Australian universities and colleges will be?able to?¡°live with¡± their international enrolment caps, which will?not affect overseas students who have been offered places for next year, a?parliamentary committee has heard.

The Department of?Education said it?was ¡°actively monitoring¡± the number of?places being issued and did?not believe that the proposed caps ¨C which are expected to be?communicated to?universities and colleges within days ¨C had already been breached.

¡°We¡¯re not currently worried about the patterns in provider behaviour that we¡¯re seeing,¡± said the department¡¯s deputy secretary, Ben Rimmer. ¡°We¡¯re confident that when providers receive their indicative limits, [they] will find it possible to live with within those limits.¡±

With a bill to authorise the caps before parliament, regulators, civil servants, analysts, vice-chancellors and other international education representatives were called before a? examining the legislation.

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¡°I find the timing of this incredibly concerning,¡± said Australian Capital Territory senator David Pocock, a member of the committee. ¡°It¡¯s the 26th of?August, and universities still don¡¯t have their cap for the next year. We know how far down the road they are in terms of enrolments.¡±

Shadow education minister Sarah Henderson cited ¡°deep concerns¡± about ¡°deficiencies¡± in coordination between government agencies and ¡°particularly the slowness of the data available through the Department of Education¡±. She said the department had ¡°completely the wrong data¡± on enrolments at some universities, with its figures ¡°out by many, many thousands¡±.

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Mr Rimmer rejected this. ¡°We¡¯ve discovered that the university-entered, university-accountable data is not accurate, in some instances by some thousands of student records. That¡¯s not on the department. That¡¯s on the providers, who are under a legal obligation to provide accurate data.¡±

He said the Education Department would ¡°manage the limit system¡± if the bill passed parliament. The department¡¯s Provider Registration and International Student Management System, or Prisms, would ¡°give providers very accurate and up-to-date information about where they are. We¡¯ve received resources from government to achieve that outcome, and I¡¯m confident that we¡¯ll be able to?do?so.¡±

Australian National University policy analyst Andrew Norton said that for the caps to work as outlined in the legislation, the department would need to know ¡°in?real time¡± that individual students were enrolled and had been issued visas by the Department of ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ Affairs.

¡°I¡¯m not sure that the two departments¡¯ systems are communicating well enough to know¡­when that happens. The Department of ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ Affairs described the requirements as ¡®significant development¡¯ of their systems. To?me, ¡®significant development¡¯ is a euphemism for ¡®we¡¯re not sure this could work at all¡¯. The Department of Education¡¯s enrolment data system was replaced about three years ago. It¡¯s still not functioning properly, [and] we¡¯ve got a few months left before this policy takes effect.¡±

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Western Sydney University vice-chancellor George Williams said the legislation proposed 31?December 2024 as the date for determining next year¡¯s caps. ¡°That, of course, is completely unworkable,¡± he told the committee.

¡°[Imagine] we applied this to mining and said¡­¡®We¡¯re going to regulate how much you can export [and] if you export one ton extra, you lose your licence to engage in any business, and we¡¯ll tell you the day before the new year, irrespective of what contracts you¡¯ve entered into.¡¯¡±

Professor Williams, a renowned constitutional lawyer, said the bill lacked ¡°some of the most basic things you would expect to see in a piece of legislation of this kind¡±. It did not specify criteria by which the education minister should determine the caps, nor any process other than ¡°the minister may consult¡±.

He said the bill omitted any reference to differential impacts on states, raising potential objections under Section?99 of Australia¡¯s Constitution, which prevents the commonwealth from preferencing particular states.

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¡°Even the possibility of parliamentary disallowance is removed, [eliminating] even that basic check and the ability of parliament to scrutinise,¡± Professor Williams said. ¡°The concentration of power is surprising. It¡¯s unfettered, coercive and¡­concentrated in a minister in a way that you would normally associate, in my experience, with a biosecurity act or a piece of national security legislation.

¡°You would not expect it in a piece of industry policy, particularly something directed at higher education. This is poorly drafted, not fit to be passed, and simply not adapted well to the problem that we¡¯re facing.¡±

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The committee is due to report on 6?September.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com