Monash University’s senior executives have forced a student election to be cancelled after uproar over a “racist” move that banned foreign students from running.

A decision by Monash Caulfield’s student union to effectively bar international students from nominating forced crisis talks on Wednesday between the university’s top brass and student leaders.

The decision to exclude foreign students, revealed by The Age on Wednesday, was said to be designed to counter a union takeover by a group of mainly Chinese international students, who were widely tipped to win the election that was scheduled for Monday.

The state government confirmed it contacted the university over the issue, while the federal government refused to respond to claims it pressured the university for resolution on Wednesday.

A Monash spokeswoman confirmed both the state and federal government requested briefings on the student elections, "as per normal procedure".