Australia orders a year-long pause on new VET and ELICOS provider registrations
- The Australian government is freezing registrations for new VET and ELICOS providers, as well as new courses from existing providers, for a period of 12 months
- The responsible minister argues that the measure is necessary to address integrity concerns in the system
- Critics counter that the order is a deliberate move to favour public institutions within the Australian system
- The freeze arrives within a political climate where both governing and opposition parties are intent on reducing immigration
In , Australia’s Assistant Minister for International Education Julian Hill has ordered a 12-month freeze on the establishment of new private training centres as well as new courses offered by established private-sector providers.
The order dictates that “no applications may be made to the National VET Regulator under section 9 of the Act until after the day 12 months after the day this instrument commences.” The order is in immediate effect and it means that the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) will not accept applications from new providers or for new courses for a 12-month period beginning 19 May 2026.
The order specifically prevents any new applications for registration in the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS). CRICOS is Australia's official government register of education providers and courses that are approved to enrol international students. And The Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act 2000 requires that any Australian institution enrolling visa-holding foreign students must be registered on CRICOS.
The 18 May order applies to private vocational education and training (VET) providers as well as those in the English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) sector. Public providers, including TAFEs and public universities, are exempt.
In other words, during the year-long freeze, no new private VET or ELICOS providers may be established, nor may existing private-sector providers establish any new courses.
A background brief accompanying the assistant minister's order explains that there are two exceptions:
"The Suspension will not apply to applications made by any existing provider that relate to adding:
- a location for a course the provider is already registered on CRICOS to deliver
- a course identified as superseded (non-equivalent) on the National Register (www.training.gov.au), where the provider is already registered to deliver the superseded (non-equivalent) course."
An accompanying statement from Mr Hill says that the freeze is necessary to "provide ASQA with additional time to address sector integrity issues while processing existing applications with a focus on rigour, scrutiny, and integrity."
The assistant minister draws a direct line in his comments from the order to two substantive government reviews of Australia's immigration system – the Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia’s Visa System (the Nixon Review) and the Migration Review in 2023 – which identified "significant integrity concerns within Australia’s international education system, particularly in the vocational education and training (VET) sector."
"Suspending new registrations to teach international students VET or English language onshore is not a decision taken lightly and will allow the Government to address integrity concerns about new market entrants and oversaturation in the international VET and ELICOS sectors," added the Assistant Minister. "Frankly, it raises suspicions when at the same time student numbers in these parts of the sector are moderating the regulator continues to see a rush of new market entrants."
A blunt instrument
"The Albanese Government has quietly dropped one of the most consequential blows to Australia’s international education sector in years and it landed without warning," says . "This is not simply a technical regulatory change. It is a deliberate attempt to reshape the international education market to favour public providers while freezing out the private sector…It freezes the entire pipeline of new entrants regardless of quality, innovation, or workforce relevance. It also blocks private providers from diversifying their offerings."
Ian Pratt, Managing Director at Lexis English, also questioned the government's approach, noting that, "We now appear to have reached the point where, instead of properly resourcing regulators to assess applications and enforce standards, the solution is simply to stop accepting applications altogether."
"Instead of empowering the regulator to identify and remove poor operators, the government has chosen a blanket suspension targeting an entire segment of the sector," he added on LinkedIn. "The genuinely frustrating part is that quality independent providers are not the problem here. Many of the most innovative, student-focused and internationally responsive organisations in Australian education sit within the private sector. These are the providers building niche programmes, responding quickly to employer demand, investing in student experience, and actively supporting regional economies."
Part of a larger pattern?
The freeze on new CRICOS registrations arrives in the midst of an ongoing political debate around migration levels in Australia. Both the governing and opposition parties have offered policy positions based in part on reducing immigration levels, including with respect to international students.
A statement from Universities Australia Chief Executive Officer Luke Sheehy cautions in response that, "After two years of instability and policy swings, what the sector and students need now is stability, certainty and a clear long-term strategy.
"International students are not the low-hanging fruit both sides of politics are treating them as in the migration debate. Significant cuts to international student numbers would have real consequences for the economy and our universities at a time both are doing it tough.
"Australia cannot afford another race to the bottom driven by stop-start policy settings, political signalling or measures that damage our economy, our universities and our global reputation.”
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