Labor axes VET course amid student visa misuse fears

The federal Labor government has moved to cancel enrolments in a vocational graduate diploma in management learning, citing growing evidence that international students have been using the course to avoid reapplying for student visas and prolong their time in Australia.

The course, a VET-level qualification, currently has around 40,000 people enrolled. But what alarmed the government was a sharp rise in the number of students already onshore transferring into the program — from roughly 500 transfers in 2020 to more than 4,000 last year alone. Further raising red flags, only about half of those who enrol actually begin studying the qualification.

Assistant Minister for International Education Julian Hill invoked regulatory powers to shut down new enrolments, framing the decision as part of the government's push for greater integrity in the international education sector. Students currently mid-course will be permitted to finish their studies, but no new enrolments will be accepted.

"Australia's international education system is genuinely world-class, and we want to keep it that way," the government has signalled in recent statements. The concern is that the student visa system is being used by some as a bridging mechanism — a way to keep working in Australia or to position for a longer-term visa — rather than for genuine study.

The cancellation fits into a broader government effort to bring down Australia's net overseas migration. The country currently has around 300,000 more people arriving than leaving, and the government has set targets to reduce that figure to 245,000 within a year, then to 225,000 by 2028.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has been deploying a range of regulatory levers to slow migration inflows without scrapping uncapped, demand-driven visa programs outright. Those measures have included prioritising the processing of skilled work visa applications from people already in Australia over those lodged from overseas. There has also been discussion of introducing a deliberate go-slow on working holiday maker, or backpacker, visas.

The piecemeal approach — targeting a few thousand visas in one category, then another — reflects the challenge facing the government. Many of Australia's migration pathways are uncapped and demand-driven, meaning blunt legislative cuts are difficult. Instead, officials have opted for targeted administrative decisions that collectively reduce the intake.

Migration has become a politically charged issue, with both One Nation and the federal Coalition calling for significant reductions. A broader policy statement from Minister Burke is expected in coming weeks, following last month's cancellation announcement. For now, the government's strategy remains one of careful, step-by-step regulatory action rather than sweeping reform.