Australian Politics

Ending the era of the “big business” university

Leith van Onselen
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Over the past 20 years, Australian universities have completely transformed into revenue-driven corporations.

In a nutshell, the federal government and Australian universities created a framework to attract huge volumes of full-fee-paying overseas students by:

  1. The federal government provided generous student and graduate visa work rights, as well as the opportunity for permanent residency.
  2. Australian higher education institutions lowered admission and teaching standards.

As a result, the number of international enrolments at Australian universities has tripled since 2005:

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International student enrolments

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.