The Australian Government has announced that a National Planning Level cap will apply to the international education and training sector from 2025. This new National Planning Level system is expected to result in the replacement of Ministerial Direction 107 for 2025.
National Planning Level limits will apply from 1 January 2025, with a total of 270,000 new international student commencements for the 2025 calendar year. This does not include enrolments or offers. It is the actual number of international students starting a course.
From 1 January 2025, new international student commencements will be divided between Higher Education and VET:
- Public universities will have a total of around 145,000 commencements.
- Private universities and NUHEPs will have around 30,000.
- VET providers will have around 95,000.
The NPL will use the new overseas student commencement (NOSC) number to count the students. An international student will count as a new overseas student commencement when:
- they are onshore, and
- they start their first non-exempt course at their first CRICOS provider.
Students will not be counted as an additional NOSC if:
- they move courses within the same CRICOS provider in 2025, or
- they start a subsequent course at the same provider immediately after the first course.
However, students will be counted as an NOSC each time they change into a non-exempt course at a different provider. They will be counted under the next provider’s annual limit.
Current international students will not be affected by these changes. Other student cohorts that will not be affected by the NPL also include:
- International students enrolled at an Australian provider or partner provider campus around the world, studying an Australian transnational education (TNE) or twinning program
- School students
- Higher degree by research students
- ‘Standalone’ ELICOS students
- Non-award, including Study Abroad and Exchange students
- Australian Government sponsored (and partner sponsored) scholars
- Students from the Pacific and Timor-Leste.
