Now, that is more like 25 per cent.

Increasingly, the visa determination process for international students is no longer about selecting the best and brightest, but more about slashing migrant numbers quickly, to achieve a political outcome.

For student visa hopefuls in Colombia and the Australian international education sector, the cost of these politically driven decisions is high.

Ana Maria is a successful civil engineer from Colombia with a decent job, earning around A$375 a week - a meagre salary by Australian standards. Ana Maria saved hard for several years with a view to some day being able to enhance her English skills, and to study and work overseas.

After months of consultation with her education agency, she decided Australia was an ideal study destination and she took the plunge. She applied for a student visa at a cost of A$710 - one of the most expensive student visas in the world, and almost two weeks' salary for her.

Some weeks later, her student visa was refused. Ana Maria's visa refusal was one we'd seen over and over these last few months, and appears to be a "cut and paste" proforma reply, currently favoured by the Department of Home Affairs.

Not only did she lose a fortnight's pay, she lost her trust in Australia, and now has a black mark against her for future visa applications.

Ironically, under the Australian government's yet-to-be-released "genuine student" criteria, Ana Maria would be considered an ideal candidate for migration in the future in Australia.

Young, talented and qualified, she could have assisted to help address our current engineering skills shortage, said by Engineers Australia to be the worst in over a decade.

And what of the costs to Australian education businesses? The English college Ana Maria was destined for was set up years ago by hard-working Australians with a passion for international education and the diverse, vibrant communities they create in our country.

The industry employs at least 240,000 hard-working Australians, more than coal and iron ore sector put together, and the sector is worth over $40 billion per year, creates vital trade ties, putting Australia on the world map by creating stronger business links and important diplomatic relationships.

But, this college is on the brink of closure, like many others, because of the dramatic transition the government is enacting without proper consultation or communication.

We all agree change is needed, but this is not the way to implement it. Students are spending hard-earned money, and applying in good faith for visas to a country that is supposed to be all about a "fair go".

But the actions we are seeing are anything but fair, and this is not just a few isolated cases.

There are vast swathes of unfair and unjust decisions impacting hundreds of thousands of lives, many of them Australian.

The federal government would be pocketing tens of millions of dollars from international student visa applicants, who never had any realistic chance of having their visa approved, which appears on the face of it immoral, and at worst, illegal.

At this time of global geopolitical insecurity, we should be encouraging and nurturing relationships with our neighbours, near and far.

Instead, we have a government that seems hellbent on destroying links which have taken many years to establish, and cannot easily be repaired.