The proposal would reduce the number of international students in Higher Education and Vocational Education and Training (VET) through the following measures:

• New international students commencing at public universities would be reduced by at least 30,000 a year, with:
  • at most 115,000 overseas student commencements at publicly funded universities; and
  • at most 125,000 overseas student commencements in the VET, private universities and non-university higher education sectors.
• From 1 January 2026, new international student commencements at public universities would be capped at around 25% of their total student commencements.

The proposal would be ongoing and start on 1 July 2025.