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Australian universities should insulate fields experiencing overseas enrolment growth from budget cuts sparked by uncertainty around international education earnings, according to the representative body for graduate students.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (Capa) said health and education, in particular, should be quarantined from the course cuts and retrenchments sweeping the sector.

Capa president Jesse Gardner-Russell said the two fields¡¯ shares of new overseas students were rising, and universities that reduced their offerings in health and teaching risked undermining their capacity to attract lucrative foreign enrolments.

¡°Why would you cut these areas if [they are] the areas of growth?¡± Gardner-Russell asked.

Universities also risked undermining their capacity to help meet regional needs, he warned. ¡°When you look at where the students are coming from, you¡¯ve got¡­big growth in places like Nepal [and] Bangladesh ¨C developing countries [with less] infrastructure in their own university settings.

¡°We have some of the best health and education courses in the planet. If you have aspirational people¡­wanting to take these skills back to their country, this would be the place you¡¯d be looking at.¡±

According to newly released education department statistics covering the first eight months of the year, the higher education fields experiencing increasing international enrolments are education, health and science. Compared?with the same period in 2023, the post-Covid boom year for overseas admissions, international student commencements have risen by 74 per cent in education, 13 per cent in health and 8 per cent in the natural and physical sciences.

Commencements in education have more than doubled among students from the Indian subcontinent, the figures show.

Business and information technology (IT) remain the favoured areas for foreign higher education students but are losing some of their allure, with commencements down by 2 per cent in IT and 10 per cent in management and commerce.

Education and health offer the best career outcomes for overseas students who stay on in Australia, according to research by Navitas. Around three-quarters of health graduates and three-fifths of education graduates move into professional roles, mostly in health and education.

While overall international commencements between January and August were lower in 2025 than the previous two years, higher education was an exception, notching a record 181,000 new students over the eight months ¨C marginally more than the same periods in 2024 and 2023.

Bangladesh and Nepal saw the biggest increases of 39 per cent and 26 per cent respectively, while commencements declined by 42 per cent from Pakistan and 34 per cent from Bhutan.

The dominance of postgraduate students in international commencements is also in decline, with the number of new bachelor¡¯s students rising by 15 per cent while admissions at master¡¯s and doctoral level fell 8 per cent.

Gardner-Russell said international postgraduate students were often aged in their thirties with work and parental responsibilities, and tended to research educational options more assiduously than their undergraduate peers. Imposts like A$2,000 (?972) visa fees were more likely to deter them, he said.

The reputational impacts of the debate around governance may also be a deterrent, he said. ¡°Potentially they¡¯re seeing the¡­negative discussions and deciding to either hold off or go elsewhere.¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com