Market intelligence for international student recruitment from ICEF
9th Oct 2025

Australia introduces new integrity measures through proposed amendments to the ESOS Act

Short on time? Here are the highlights:
  • The Australian government is once again moving to amend the country’s Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act)
  • The proposed amendments will provide for greater scrutiny of education providers’ engagement with agents and of “cross ownership” arrangements between providers and agents
  • The government also seeks to eliminate the payment of commissions on onshore student transfers between institutions

Australian Minister of Education Jason Clare tabled the Education Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2025 in Parliament today. The Bill seeks to amend three pieces of legislation in order to "strengthen the quality, integrity and sustainability of the delivery of education in Australia."

The bulk of the proposed amendments apply to the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act). They closely reflect, with the exception of the then-controversial legislated mechanism for a foreign enrolment cap, the ESOS amendments proposed (and subsequently withdrawn) in 2024.

The ESOS amendments put forward by the Minister today provide for the following:

  • Greater scrutiny of "cross-ownership arrangements" between providers and agents;
  • Empowering the Department of Education to collect and share data from providers on their education agents, particularly with respect to the amount of commissions received and the number of students referred by each.

"Some collusive business practices between providers and agents are driven by agents seeking commissions through facilitating onshore transfers of students between providers, especially from the higher education sector to the VET sector," notes the accompanying memo. Speaking in Parliament today, Minister Clare said his proposed amendments provide for a definition of "education agent commission." This in turn, he said, "will allow for complementary amendments to be made to the National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018 to ban commissions from being paid to education agents for onshore student transfers."

The proposed ESOS amendments otherwise provide government with additional powers around the registration (or de-registration) of education providers.

"International education is an important national asset," said Minister Clare. He continued:

"In September 2022 we announced the Parkinson Review of the Migration System. And in January 2023 the Nixon Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia’s Visa System. These reviews identified integrity issues in international education, and we moved quickly on a number of recommendations of those reviews. This Bill is the next step."

That being the case, the next step after this – presuming that the legislative amendments are passed into law – will be the revisions they trigger in government regulation otherwise, perhaps especially with respect to the National Code. The amendments themselves are very much concerned with expanding government authority in specific ways. There will be more clarity about how those new oversight powers will be employed in the regulations that eventually arise from the amendments.

For additional background, please see:

Most Recent

  • The next era of international education: Trust, transparency, and a focus on quality Read More
  • The UK is quickly expanding its TNE footprint in India Read More
  • Türkiye: After a decade of dramatic growth, a goal to host 500,000 international students by 2028 Read More

Most Popular

  • Which countries will contribute the most to global student mobility in 2030? Read More
  • Research shows link between study abroad and poverty alleviation  Read More
  • Beyond the Big Four: How demand for study abroad is shifting to destinations in Asia and Europe Read More

Because you found this article interesting

The next era of international education: Trust, transparency, and a focus on quality Since 1995, ICEF Berlin has served as a catalyst for connecting the world through education. With our 30th...
Read more
The UK is quickly expanding its TNE footprint in India As universities in the Big Four (Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US) face more immigration-related challenges in...
Read more
Türkiye: After a decade of dramatic growth, a goal to host 500,000 international students by 2028 In the past couple of years, we have frequently referred to “alternative” destinations that are becoming more popular...
Read more
UK to implement reduced Graduate Route from January 2027 The UK Home Office has confirmed the implementation of one of the key items in its May 2025...
Read more
UK transnational education enrolments poised to surpass onshore students this decade The latest available numbers from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) tell us that there were 732,285 international...
Read more
Trump administration’s proposed deal with select US colleges includes a cap on international undergraduate enrolment Update for 21 October 2025: The administration’s 20 October deadline for responding to the proposed compact has now...
Read more
Australia: With ELICOS under pressure, peak bodies push for reduction in “extortionate” visa fees The latest data from the Department of Education reveals that enrolments in Australia’s ELICOS sector (English Language Intensive...
Read more
South Korea hits its 300,000 student target two years ahead of schedule In 2023, the South Korean government announced a plan to attract 300,000 international students by 2027: 220,000 in...
Read more
What are you looking for?
Quick Links