Typically, the department cancels between 8,000 and 9000 visas annually, but in the latest figures released by the DIBP for the year ending June 2015, there has been a 30 per cent increase in the number of cancellations, according to a report in The Australian.

The visas of 1793 Chinese students were cancelled making them the highest risk group. With 1160 visa cancellations, South Korean students were next, followed in number by students from India, Vietnam and Thailand.

The total number of student visas issued rose by 2 per cent, from 292,060 to 299,540.

Low-quality education providers, unscrupulous education agents, and the overly complex current student visa framework have been blamed for these large number of visa cancellations.

Last month, two colleges - St Stephen Institute of Technology and Symbiosis Institute of Technical Education - were shut down after allegations that they were not providing education, but were “being used to source student visas for Indian students who then go to work…”

Given the greater scrutiny by the DIBP, several larger providers, including sector heavyweight Navitas, have cancelled contracts with some third-party -agencies that source international ¬students.

Education Minister Christopher Pyne also has moved to push out unscrupulous education agents, announcing a code of ethics and a feasibility study into an industry-led quality framework for agents.

“The quality of the educational services that Australia offers to the rest of the world is an asset that we should protect and enhance,” said Mr Pyne, adding that, “International education is Australia’s fourth largest export industry overall and our largest services export ahead of tourism, so maintaining our strong reputation for quality is important.”

The government says it will introduce a single framework for student visa risk assessment in mid-2016. The new system is expected to effectively have one student visa class (with a separate subclass for student guardians.)