Foreign students are turning away from Australia. According to new numbers from the nation’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship, applications for student visas have dropped by 11.5% in the 2009-10 academic year. The drop mirrors a decline in the number of foreign students studying in Australia, which has fallen by roughly 16% to roughly 270,000 this year.

The National Tertiary Education Union, the country’s main union for academic staff, says that tightened immigration rules and campus attacks on foreign students have led to the declines. If they continue, they will soon threaten university incomes, the group warns.