{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Brief: International Education Edition","title":"Another one: Third School Group in Liquidation in Four Weeks, and Australia Closes Another Door","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":394,"description":"BSC Education, the UK English language group, is going into liquidation. That makes it the third major language school group to fail in four weeks, after EC English and ILAC. HMRC filed a winding-up petition against the company in July, twelve weeks before agents got the closure email.\nMeanwhile, Australia's new student visa rules took effect on 2 October. Working holiday makers and holders of 16 other visa types can no longer switch to a student visa from inside the country, which cuts off the main source of students for English language schools there. Days later, the opposition Coalition promised to abolish the temporary graduate visa (subclass 485) and cap new international students at 240,000 a year.\nWe cover what this means for agents holding prepaid fees, why public warning signs matter, and why the onshore conversion business model in Australia changed overnight.\nKey numbers\nBSC Education: HMRC winding-up petition filed 17 July 2026. At end-2024 it had about £125k cash against £3.0m in liabilities.\nAustralia's independent ELICOS sector is down 73% since 2022-23.\nIn Canada, new language study permits fell 72% between 2022 and 2025.\nAustralian student visa grant rate: 75.5% in August 2026, the lowest since 2006-07.\nOffshore grant rates, August 2025 to August 2026: Nepal 92% → 13%, Bangladesh 98% → 34%, India 72% → 51%.\nThe Coalition's proposed cap is 240,000 new students a year, down from about 295,000.\nSources\nBSC Education enters liquidation, ceases trading (The PIE News)\nBSC Education Ltd winding-up petition (K2 Partners / The Gazette)\nEnglish-language school closures put the focus on pathway resilience (ApplyBoard)\nAustralia's student visa restrictions take effect (The PIE News)\nStudent visa crackdown expands beyond visitors (The Koala News)\nNew fact sheets clarify 12-month student transfer restriction (The Koala News)\nHas Australia's genuine student test gone too far? (ICEF Monitor)\nAustralia's Coalition pledges to scrap Temporary Graduate visas (The...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/FjS77YWxrsfvnEjPUsSUBpEWO42alxZBOjh3aV0TeGI/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS80ZTVi/N2Y2N2JlZmZkNTUz/OGM5ZGRjMjFhNDM1/ZDVhNi5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}