Malinauskas said today that he was “going to fight really quite hard to make sure South Australia isn’t impacted unreasonably” by the federal government’s proposed changes to international student numbers.

The reforms, which are yet to pass parliament, would allow the federal Education Minister to set caps on international student enrolments by location, university or individual courses.

Final details of the caps are yet to be finalised but are due to come into force on January 1, 2025. It also comes after the federal government last month hiked non-refundable application fees for international student visas from $710 to $1600.

The merged Adelaide University is due to open its doors on January 1, 2026, and just last month opened admissions for international students.

The business case underpinning the merger forecast that the new Adelaide University could enrol 6000 additional international students by 2034 – substantially increasing a revenue source that is critical for cross subsidising research.

Malinauskas told ABC Radio Adelaide on Thursday that he had raised concerns about the cap proposal with senior federal ministers and would also raise it with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese when they next met.

Asked if the policy changes would affect the university merger, Malinauskas said: “I don’t think it will affect the merger, but I think it has the risk of curtailing the university’s capacity to grow and invest in research and development, which is absolutely critical not just to the university’s ranking but critical to business in this state.”

“Because R&D is what unlocks improvements in productivity and innovation, which is what in turn improves living standards.”

Proponents of the university merger have consistently argued that amalgamating the two institutions is the only way a South Australian university can be sustainably ranked in the top 100 globally.

Adelaide University’s “Vision Statement” released in March 2023 states: “Combined, we would be ranked in the top one per cent of universities globally – and would work confidently to be recognised among the world’s top 100 universities on an ongoing and sustainable basis.”

The statement also outlines a goal for the university to rank first in Australia for industry income in research or commercialisation outcomes.

Under the federal government’s proposed policy, universities could only exceed their international student caps if they build new student accommodation.

But the state government argues this policy is not relevant to South Australia because Adelaide “has not experienced the same issues with international students struggling to find accommodation as in some other capital cities”, according to a state government submission to a federal inquiry in June.

Malinauskas said today: “I am concerned about this policy from the Commonwealth.”

“And I’m going to fight really quite hard to make sure that South Australia isn’t impacted unreasonably, particularly given that in terms of our student accommodation, we’ve got a 10 per cent vacancy rate,” he said.

“So, it’s not as though we are as concerned about international students displacing South Australians from the rental market, because we know that we’ve had capacity building in the system in anticipation of growth, and now we think that should be allowed to fill up.”

On Tuesday, University of Adelaide deputy vice-chancellor and vice-president (academic) Professor Jennie Shaw said the federal government’s changes could force the new Adelaide University to renege on a promise that the merger will not result in any job cuts until mid-2027, if ever.

“We’ve guaranteed no job losses through merger for continuing staff until mid-2027, but this might be a lever that we’re forced to pull,” Shaw said.

That position was quickly walked backed by the co-vice-chancellors of Adelaide University, Professor David Lloyd and Professor Peter Høj, in an all-staff email on Wednesday morning.

“We want to reassure our staff that, as co-Vice Chancellors of Adelaide University, we remain firmly committed… that all reasonable and relevant measures will be implemented to maintain the employment of our staff and there will be no compulsory redundancies or retrenchments as a consequence of the creation of the new university for the first eighteen months of its operations,” Lloyd and Høj wrote.

The two vice-chancellors told InDaily later on Wednesday that Adelaide University “has modelled managed and sustainable growth in international student numbers after inception”.

“However, we must keep a watchful eye on any short-sighted policy that takes aim at Australia’s educational future and sends a damaging message to our international community,” they said.