Recall that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told ABC’s Q&A in February that Labor would cut immigration and relieve pressure on the rental market by reducing the number of student visas, which he said were being “abused”.
“On immigration, particularly when it comes to housing, three quick points. One is that the biggest thing that you could do, area where you could reduce the amount, is in students, because some of that, frankly, was being abused”, Albanese said.
The Department of Education has released international student data showing that there were a record 839,200 enrolments in the year to June 2025.
This was up around 13,400 (1.6%) from the 825,800 enrolments in 2024 and around 130,440 (18%) higher than the same time in 2019 before the pandemic.
However, the Department of Education notes that “many international students study more than one course in a reported year. So, while there were 839,199 enrolments counted in the year-to-date June 2025, these were generated by 739,843 international students”.
The following chart shows that university enrolments hit a record high of 450,600 in the year to June 2025. VET also hit a record high of 285,000 enrolments, although they were up only marginally on 2024.
By contrast, ELICOS enrolment fell sharply to 64,000 enrolments in 2025, down from a peak of 103,100 in 2023.
While the stock of international student enrolments hit a record high, the flow of new students has moderated back to pre-pandemic levels.
There were around 262,280 international student commencements in the year to June 2025, down from last year’s peak of 302,570 and broadly in line with 2019 (266,860).
University commencements hit a record high of 120,340 in the year to June, offset by a circa 20,000 decline in VET commencements and a circa 23,000 fall in ELICOS commencements.
Separate visa data for the June quarter from the Department of Home Affairs shows that the number of people in Australia on either a student or graduate visa was only marginally below all-time highs and 166,000 above pre-pandemic levels:
Student and graduate visa holders comprised 3% of Australia’s population—almost one in 30 people—in the June quarter of 2025. This was up from 2.6% at the pre-pandemic peak and double the 1.5% share in 2012.
There are also around 100,000 prospective or former students on temporary bridging visas, which aren’t counted above.
The Albanese government recently lifted the planning level for international students by 25,000 to 295,000 for 2026, as well as relaxed some English-language tests.
These policy changes suggest that the overall number of international students in Australia will increase.
