An (almost) complete guide to international student policy in 2023

2023年（几乎）完整的国际学生政策指南

If there’s one thing politicians love to talk about, it’s how valuable international students are to their country – how much they contribute to the economy, how important they are for the future workforce and the diversity they bring to universities and colleges.

如果有一件事政治家们喜欢谈论，那就是国际学生对他们的国家有多大价值——他们对经济有多大贡献，他们对未来的劳动力有多重要，以及他们给大学和学院带来的多样性。

They normally say this before unleashing a raft of devastating policies that leave students understandably confused about why they just spent thousands of yen/rupees/naira on an education abroad.

他们通常会在推出一系列破坏性政策之前这样说，这些政策让学生们很困惑，为什么他们要花数千日元/卢比/奈拉在国外接受教育。

So, in case anything is unclear, here’s our country-by-country breakdown of where, after a turbulent year, everyone stands on international students. Be warned, if you’re looking for logic behind the policies – there isn’t any. Oh, and, they’ll probably all change in January anyway.

所以，如果有什么是不清楚的，这里是我们的国家按国家细分，在经历了动荡的一年，每个人都站在国际学生。请注意，如果你正在寻找政策背后的逻辑-没有任何。哦，而且，无论如何，他们可能都会在一月份改变。

2023 was the year of policymakers in top student destinations floating the idea of capping international student numbers, seemingly unaware of the barrage of criticism and mass hysteria even a whisper of limitations would unleash.

2023年是顶级学生目的地的政策制定者提出限制国际学生人数的想法的一年，似乎没有意识到批评和大规模歇斯底里，即使是一个限制的耳语也会释放。

Responding to the housing crisis in Canada, immigration-turned-housing minister Sean Fraser said – in what I still believe to be a misguided, but innocent, slip of the tongue – limiting student numbers could be “one of the options”.

在回应加拿大的住房危机时，移民部住房部长肖恩·弗雷泽（Sean Fraser）表示，限制学生人数可能是“选择之一”。

Despite caveating this with a suggestion to avoid such extreme measures by working more closely with providers, basically every institution, agent and international student in the country rushed to shut down the idea. A month later, new immigration minister Marc Miller confirmed there would be no cap, describing the proposal as “doing surgery with a hammer” – a comment I’m sure went down well with his predecessor.

尽管有人建议通过与供应商更密切地合作来避免这种极端措施，但基本上该国的每一所机构，代理商和国际学生都急于关闭这个想法。一个月后，新移民部长马克·米勒证实不会有上限，他将这一提议描述为“用锤子做手术”--我相信他的前任对这一评论很满意。

The same happened in Australia when leaked reports suggested the government was seriously considering limiting student numbers. In the end, politicians didn’t go that far in their new migration strategy, released in December, but they also refused to rule it out. Why not end the year on a cliffhanger, after all?

同样的情况也发生在澳大利亚，当时泄露的报告显示，政府正在认真考虑限制学生人数。最后，政客们在12月发布的新移民战略中并没有走那么远，但他们也拒绝排除这种可能性。毕竟，为什么不以扣人心弦的方式结束这一年呢？

Meanwhile, the UK’s former home secretary Suella Braverman circumvented the need for a cap by curtailing the ability of students to bring dependants – effectively stopping almost anyone who wants to raise their children or live with their partner from studying at a British university.

与此同时，英国前内政大臣苏埃拉·布雷弗曼（Suella Braverman）通过限制学生携带家属的能力来规避上限的必要性-实际上阻止了几乎任何想要抚养孩子或与伴侣一起生活的人在英国大学学习。

Generally less focused on profits thanks to well-funded higher education systems the UK and Canada can only dream of, Scandinavian countries have historically viewed international students as adding to diversity and have been happy to welcome them for very little money.

由于资金充足的高等教育体系，斯堪的纳维亚国家通常不太关注利润，这是英国和加拿大只能梦想的，斯堪的纳维亚国家历来将国际学生视为增加多样性，并乐于以很少的钱欢迎他们。

But as governments in the region swing to the right, the idea of giving everyone a free (or eye-wateringly cheap) ride has come under greater scrutiny and in 2023 both Norway and Finland decided to increase tuition fees for non-EU students.

但随着该地区各国政府向右转，让每个人都能免费（或便宜得令人泪目）的想法受到了更严格的审查，2023年挪威和芬兰都决定提高非欧盟学生的学费。

Meanwhile, Denmark, which was a few years ahead of the curve having limited English language programs in 2021 to effectively curb international student numbers, discovered – in a shock to absolutely no one – that doing so was costing the country billions and started posing the idea of, maybe, uh, reopening some more places…?

与此同时，丹麦在2021年限制英语语言课程以有效控制国际学生人数方面领先了几年，但却发现--绝对没有人感到震惊--这样做会让国家损失数十亿美元，并开始提出这样的想法，也许，嗯，重新开放更多的地方......？

“Germany has become something of an international student utopia”

“德国已经成为国际学生的乌托邦”

Over in the Netherlands, politicians continued to debate limiting international student places, only for the government to collapse leaving everyone with no idea what was going on. With a new prime minister now in place (the Dutch answer to Donald Trump), things don’t look good.

在荷兰，政治家们继续讨论限制国际学生名额的问题，结果政府垮台了，所有人都不知道发生了什么。随着新首相的上任（荷兰人对唐纳德·特朗普的回应），情况看起来并不乐观。

In contrast, neighbouring Germany has become something of an international student utopia, welcoming record numbers thanks to low tuition fees, attractive post-study work options and a government that actually seems to know what it wants.

相比之下，邻国德国已成为国际学生的乌托邦，由于学费低，有吸引力的毕业后工作选择以及似乎知道自己想要什么的政府，欢迎创纪录的人数。

The US has been relatively policy-quiet, to both the relief and disdain of education leaders. It might be the only country where those who work with international students want more intervention from the government, namely a national strategy.

美国在政策上一直相对沉默，这让教育领导人松了一口气，但也让他们感到不屑。这可能是唯一一个与国际学生打交道的人希望政府进行更多干预的国家，即国家战略。

Finally, poor New Zealand, battered by prolonged border closures, struggled to recover student numbers, but with a new government in place that has promised to expand work rights, speed up visa processing and let graduates stay in the country, it’s our “one to watch” for 2024 (you’re welcome to quote me on that in your next marketing campaign, Education NZ).

最后，贫穷的新西兰，受到长期边境关闭的打击，努力恢复学生人数，但新政府已经承诺扩大工作权利，加快签证处理并让毕业生留在该国，这是我们的“一个观察”2024年（欢迎你在你的下一个营销活动中引用我，新西兰教育）。