SORTED for the Future: Housing, Higher Ed and the International Student Equation
In the wake of the ALP’s re-election in 2025, Australia finds itself at a critical juncture. The entanglement of three complex systems—housing, higher education, and migration—has created a wicked policy problem. Each system is under pressure, has vocal stakeholders, and intersects with the others in ways that defy linear solutions. The temptation, as ever, is to isolate these issues: to see rental strain as a zoning problem, international students as a population lever, or higher education finances as a self-contained matter for the sector to solve. However, this fragmented thinking misses the bigger picture and risks damaging Australia's long-term national interest.
International education is not a fringe concern. It is a $50+ billion export sector that sustains not only universities and institutes of higher education but also a broader ecosystem of jobs (in tourism and hospitality amongst others), innovation, and community life. Students from overseas don’t just fill lecture halls; they fuel research, fund local economies, and shape Australia’s global reputation. Yet in the lead up to the election, they’ve been cast, again and again, as inadvertent villains in the rental affordability debate. That narrative doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Research from the University of South Australia shows no clear link between international student growth and rent increases between 2017 and 2024. Most students occupy niche segments of the market: shared housing, short-stay rentals, or purpose-built student accommodation. In short, they’re participants in the housing system—but not primary drivers of its dysfunction.
The dysfunction, in truth, lies in structural gaps: an undersupply of dwellings, lagging infrastructure, outdated zoning rules, and slow coordination across levels of government. The ALP’s commitment to build 1.2 million new homes by 2029, alongside the Housing Australia Future Fund, is a step in the right direction. However, policy credibility will depend on execution and ensuring these homes reflect the diverse needs of modern Australia, including those of students.
In parallel, universities and institutes of higher education are navigating an equally urgent challenge: financial sustainability. With domestic funding capped and research cross-subsidised by international tuition, institutions rely on a volatile global pipeline. Proposals to cap enrolments in response to housing pressures, while politically palatable (although populist), risk damaging an already stretched system. Worse, they risk reinforcing the false binary between housing and higher education, as if the two were not deeply intertwined. If caps are to be considered, they must be calibrated to supply-side readiness, not deployed as blunt instruments of migration control.
What’s needed now is not blame but balance, not panic but planning. Smart nations don’t punish participation; they build systems that are coordinated, adaptive, and designed for mutual benefit.
This is where a SORTED approach—Situation, Objectives, Reality, Templates, Execution, Development—can help cut through complexity. The situation is multi-layered but not chaotic. The objective should be to sustain affordable housing and a thriving education sector. The reality is that international students are being blamed for systemic issues they didn’t cause. We already have working templates for integrated planning: student housing partnerships, state-level enrolment coordination, and regional campus incentives. What’s lacking is execution at scale and genuine development of a system that learns, aligns, and adapts.
Australia has a chance to lead, not just in education but also in managing the convergence of education, migration, and housing. To do that, we need fewer reactive policies and more strategic coherence. We need to be SORTED—for the future and for the students and communities who are helping us build it.
References
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-21/australia-rent-crisis-not-international-students-fault-study/105076290 accessed 12 May 2025
https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/clare-oneil-2024/media-releases/albanese-labor-government-building-more-homes-more accessed 12 May 2025