No plans to block high-risk visa students 'at this stage' in Newcastle

In a move to strengthen the integrity and quality of international education, the government is prioritising student visa applications from "less risky" institutions and knocking back those at "high risk" of visa refusal from countries such as India and Nepal.

Deputy vice-chancellor and global professor Kent Anderson said international students were an important part of the university.

"We always welcome them warmly into our community. Our international students bring diversity and new experiences to our region and they bring this diversity into the classroom, which benefits our students," he said.

In December 2023 the government announced its Migration Strategy, which included plans to weed out non-genuine students applying for student visas with the intention of gaining access to Australia's labour market.

The report said the government would prioritise student visa applications based on risk level of providers and higher-risk providers would have slower processing times.

"... visa decision-makers will consider the integrity of a provider as well as the individual student applicants," the report read.

Professor Anderson said the university strongly supported the need to ensure international students who arrived were genuine students, coming here to study.

"We have rigorous processes in place to ensure our admissions entry criteria prevents non-genuine applicants abusing the migration and student visa system," he said.

"We consider each application on its individual merits within the framework of the current regulatory environment and our published entry requirements."

Part of the migration strategy was to remove the Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirement, which has since been replaced with a Genuine Student (GS) requirement as of March 23, 2024.

"The GS test will clearly incentivise applications from genuine students and discourage non-genuine students, whose primary intention is to work rather than study, from accessing Australia's international education system," the 2023 report stated.

Other measures include an increase in English language requirements and strengthened requirements for international education providers.

International students contribute $30 billion a year to the Australian economy and are the country's fourth largest export.

"We need to ensure sustainable sector growth with a focus on integrity and quality," the report read.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported the federal government earlier in April had updated its risk rankings - one being the lowest risk and three the highest - of Australian higher education providers, with 10 universities moving to a higher-risk level.

A high rate of visa rejections contributes to a higher risk rating, resulting in universities restricting applications from students deemed a higher risk of visa refusal.

While top-tier universities can recruit students from high-risk countries such as India through a streamlined process, tier two and tier three universities have to go through more complex checks for those students.

The changes to foreign student approvals come as the latest Home Affairs data shows offshore student visa refusals are at a record high, with approvals at a record low of 78.4 per cent in the 12 months to March.