Education provider Navitas claims a rising number of foreigners are pretending to be students to get visas according to a report by the Australian Asscociated Press.

Last month DIBP warned in its blog site that it takes any breach of student visa conditions seriously and threatened visas may be subject to cancellation in the event of a breach pointing out that the breach of work rights limits were of a particular concern. Now, the chief executive of Navitas, Rod Jones says there is "higher than acceptable levels" of fraudulent applications coming from "a number of higher risk source countries" for courses run by Navitas.

Consequently, Navitas, which operates university programs, English language training and creative media courses, throughout Australia has tightened its recruitment requirements to ensure it signs up only genuine students, he told the company's annual general meeting in Perth.

"This may result in a temporary slowing of our growth rate in Australia," Mr Jones warned.

But proposed higher education reforms, including the deregulation of fees and increased government support to private providers, likely would have a positive effect for Navitas, if they pass the Senate, he said.

The company still expects to achieve growth in all three of its divisions in 2014/15, and lift its underlying earnings to between $162 and $172 million, a rise of at least 12 per cent from the previous year.