Australian universities are quietly lowering entry standards and increasing scholarships in order to attract more Chinese international students.
The changes include loosened academic score requirements for students from low-tier Chinese universities, and courses accepting lower scores in English language proficiency test IELTS.
Overseas Chinese visa applications fell 30% in the four months to April, and education agents said Australia’s prestigious Group of Eight universities were battling shrinking demand due to new caps on foreign students and competition from overseas markets.
Beijing-based Christina Gao, a director at large Chinese study abroad agency, JJL Overseas Education Consulting, told The Sydney Morning Herald universities have “definitely adjusted some of the entry requirements, especially for master’s [degrees]”.
She also confirmed that required scores for English language proficiency test IELTS had been dropped from 7 or higher to 6.5 for some courses, mainly in business or finance, but declined to name the universities responsible.
Another international student recruiter, Candy Xian from EIC Education, told the publication the new measures provided a “golden window” for Chinese postgraduate students.
“Some [Australian universities] are lowering or phasing out entry score bands for different university tiers in China. Some faculties are reducing [entry scores] by five to 10 points,” she said.
EIC stated in its 2026 marketing materials that competition for admission to top Australian universities was expected to “ease significantly” for the 2027-28 academic year, and highlighted an IELTS policy change allowing students to re-take sections of the exam.
The Australian National University in Canberra is among those to relax standards, reducing its score requirements from 85 to 80 for Chinese students from low-tier universities doing master’s courses, and international student thresholds from 90 to 85.
A spokesperson said the change was made after a review found Chinese students achieved comparable academic results regardless of whether they came from elite or lower-tier universities in their home country.
The revelations come amid growing concerns about plummeting academic standards, over-reliance of foreign student fees, and rampant international student cheating at Australian universities.
Earlier this year a Chinese international student at Adelaide University admitted cheating his way through a postgraduate degree, and said he and his classmates would not have been able to graduate without using AI.
Header image: Students at a University of Sydney welcome event earlier this year (USU).
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