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Australia's National Planning Level for International Students: 295,000 Places, Priority Processing and Who Is Exempt

The national planning level (NPL) is the number of new international students the government plans for each year: 295,000 for 2026, 25,000 more than in 2025, and again 295,000 for 2027. It is not a cap. Each university receives an allocation, and visa applications for universities that have reached most of theirs are processed later.

Leonid Kurza, co-founder of EdumappleBy Leonid Kurza · co-founder of Edumapple · checked

  • 295,000planning level for 2026
  • 295,000planning level for 2027
  • 80%of allocation: lower priority starts
  • MD 115the direction in force

How the priority tiers work

PriorityWho
1 (fastest)Providers below their prioritisation threshold; PhD, non-award, standalone English and TAFE students; DFAT, Defence and government-scholarship students; Pacific and Timor-Leste nationals
2Providers that have reached 80% of their new-student allocation
3Providers that have exceeded their allocation by 15%

Integrity problems are acted on whatever the priority, and an application that plainly fails the criteria can be refused at any time.

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What it means for an Indian applicant

Choose your university and accept early in the cycle; a later acceptance at a popular university may wait behind applications that arrived first. Pathway students have an advantage: a student who enters a public university through a recognised pathway college is outside that university's allocation. See pathway colleges.

The numbers behind it

Australia had 738,694 international students in the year to August 2026, 8% fewer than a year earlier, and new commencements fell 12%. Students from India made up 16%, second after China at 23%.

Questions from Indian students: National planning level

What is the national planning level in Australia?
The government's planned number of new international student commencements: 295,000 for 2026 and 2027. Each education provider gets a share, and visa processing priority depends on how much of its share the provider has used.
Is the NPL a cap on student visas?
No. The government says it is not a cap but a system for prioritising offshore applications. Applications beyond a provider's allocation are still decided, only later.
What is Ministerial Direction 115?
The direction that sets the order for deciding offshore student visa applications from 14 November 2025, replacing Direction 111. Priority 1 covers providers below their threshold, PhD students, government-sponsored students and some others; Priority 2 applies once a provider reaches 80% of its allocation; Priority 3 once it exceeds its allocation by 15%.
Who is exempt from the planning level?
From 2026, students moving to a public university after Australian secondary school, from a recognised pathway provider or from TAFE are not counted in the university's allocation.
How does this affect me?
Apply and accept early. An offer accepted in October from a university well inside its allocation is processed sooner than one accepted in January from a university near its limit.

Sources we checked