{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Brief: International Education Edition","title":"Australia's VET Collapse Meets One Nation's Blunt Instrument","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":402,"description":"Australia's vocational education sector is being squeezed harder than any other study level — and this week, the politics caught up to the data. Conrad and Eden break down why the VET visa grant rate has hit an all-time low, and why One Nation's new crackdown is fighting a battle the regulator has largely already won.\nThe through-line: Australia has a real integrity problem at the low-trust, vocational end of its international education market. The data shows the regulator is already screening hard. One Nation has now arrived with a much blunter tool — and the cost lands on legitimate VET and ELICOS providers, and the students who use them as a genuine pathway. A continuation of the thread we opened in Episode 2 on Australia's restrictive turn.\nKey Statistics:\nVET grant rate: 42% of offshore vocational applicants granted a visa in the first 10 months of FY2025/26 — an all-time low if it holds\nELICOS grant rate: 78% — in line with recent years but well below historical norms\n~193,000 student visas projected for FY2025/26 (roughly 2015/16 levels); −8% year-on-year\nHigher ed now ~3 in 4 granted visas; postgrad up 9% — the squeeze is on the bottom of the ladder, not the top\nIndia grant rate −15 points to 64%; Nepal and Bangladesh volumes up but grant rates down 34 and 24 points\nOne Nation's Policy:\nStudents who drop out would be barred from appealing to the Administrative Review Tribunal and required to leave Australia before reapplying\nCites former student-visa holders on bridging visas rising from ~13,000 to 107,000+ in three years (per the Jan 2026 Menzies Research Centre report)\nSingled out Central Queensland University's Sydney campus and a reported 57.2% first-year international dropout rate (2023)\nNote: dropout and bridging-visa figures are One Nation's claims, drawn from the Menzies report.\nThe Takeaway (for agents & providers):\nStop treating \"Australia VET\" as a volume play — at 42%, you're counselling students into refusals, and a refused student still pays...","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}