International students: The migration nexus

International students are important to Australia's society. There are more international students in Australia than there are people living in Canberra. This brings enormous economic and social benefits.

This needs to be managed – for everyone’s sake.

Current and former international students living in Australia number over 850,000 and are at record levels.

This is part of the reason why the Australian government has floated introducing limits on international student numbers. It is unclear how this will happen.

In this report, we highlight the complexity of Australia’s international education sector. We argue that creating a healthy and sustainable international education sector will mean innovating across education and migration policy areas.

Getting these settings right would protect international students. It would also ensure the health of Australia’s education institutions while maintaining the integrity of Australia’s migration program.