Australian universities retract enrolments amid visa crackdown

In 2022, over 1 lakh Indian students were studying in Australia, a significant jump from 73,808 in 2019.

A few Australian universities are reportedly retracting certificates of enrolment (CoE) issued to their students. The institutes are said to be taking a firm approach towards students who have not complied with earlier requests to withdraw their applications in light of scrutiny by immigration authorities.

According to a report by Times Higher Education, the University of Wollongong and La Trobe University have retracted offers to students who did not have strong application and their visa rejection may have put the universities at a “higher risk level”.

Among various measures taken by the Australian government to curb migration as part of its ‘Migration Strategy’, one significant step was the substitution of the “genuine temporary entrant” requirement with a “genuine student test”. This adjustment is made with the specific goal of dissuading individuals whose principal intention is employment rather than education.

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The rationale behind this shift is to emphasise the importance of attracting students genuinely committed to academic pursuits, minimising the likelihood of visa applications from those primarily seeking work opportunities.

In a nutshell, high-risk student visa applications will come in for more scrutiny now.

Impact on Indian students unclear

In 2022, over 1 lakh Indian students were studying in Australia, a significant jump from 73,808 in 2019.

Moneycontrol could not verify how many Indian students are affected by the universities’ actions. While La Trobe did not revert to Moneycontrol’s queries at the time of publishing this article, a University of Wollongong (UOW) spokesperson said that the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs (DoHA), along with each university, aims to ensure each student application to study at an Australian university is genuine.

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“DoHA visa outcome monitoring recently identified an elevated risk of non-genuine applications, and UOW is adjusting processes related to admission and genuine temporary entrant screening processes in response to this,” the spokesperson said, adding that this continuous monitoring and adjustment is a normal approach across the Australian university sector.

Students need to be cautious

According to study-abroad consultants, Australia’s Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF) assesses universities on immigration-related criteria such as visa cancellation rates, instances of fraudulent documents being submitted by students, the number of students becoming unlawful post-visa approval etc. Hence, most universities are retracting enrolments of students with very high chances of falling into these criteria.

Consequently, universities are focusing on maintaining favourable immigration assessment levels, said Anuj Gupta, CEO of Youngrads. Universities with level one or level two ratings under the SSVF tend to have better acceptance rates.

“However, this practice could negatively impact students, who, despite paying full fees, may face financial losses due to currency exchange rates and delays in their academic pursuits,” he said, adding that the recent development is likely to affect Australia’s reputation as a study destination adversely.

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Meanwhile, experts suggested students from certain states must be cautious while applying to Australian universities.

“A considerable number of recognised HE (higher education) institutions in the country have either banned or increased scrutiny on applications from states such as Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh. Students from these states must weigh in on their genuineness to the university by spotlighting their academic profile along with extra-curricular merits and achievements in their area of study,” said Jasminder Khanna, Co-founder of Gresham Global.

Scaling up the quality of personal statements and recommendations significantly improves the chances of admission to the desired institutions, he added. A strong emphasis on the rationale behind choosing the institution is always recommended.

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