The Australian | 30 October 2013 The Abbott government has moved to loosen visa restrictions to attract international students, prompting calls for increased funding for regulators to ensure there is no return to the "visa factory" that marked the height of the 2008-09 higher education boom. From next year, tougher restrictions on students from countries with the highest risk of visa fraud will be scrapped, effectively reducing the cash such applicants are required to have in the bank to support themselves during their study. The government has also fast-tracked a decision to extend streamlined visa processing beyond the university sector to 22 TAFEs and private providers that … [Read more...]
VET outcry over entry test
23/08/2012 by
The Australian 22 August 2012 VET providers in both public and private sectors are complaining that immigration officers are sabotaging Australia's education marketing overseas by rejecting would-be students and suggesting they are better off taking courses in their home countries. __________________________CONTINUE READING Stephen Nagle, director of the private provider Holmes Institute estimates that immigration officers in offshore posts are rejecting 25-30% of students wanting to come to Holmes, which provides English language courses as well as vocational and higher education. Holmes is not alone, with the private education peak body documenting 224 visa rejections in … [Read more...]
Streamlined visas fast tracked for non-unis
16/04/2012 by
The Australian 16 April 2012 Selected private colleges and TAFEs will soon benefit from streamlined student visa processing arrangements already enjoyed by universities, under immigration reforms signed off by COAG on 13 April 2012. The new approach means international students seeking visas to study at colleges deemed low-risk will be treated as coming from ‘level 1 risk assessment’ countries. This vastly reduces their waiting time for visas, and scales back onerous requirements to prove that they have plenty of money to cover their expenses in Australia. Some of Australia’s top markets for international education, including India and China, are treated as high-risk level 3 or 4 … [Read more...]
The Scan 23 February 2012
22/02/2012 by
Redundancies at Sydney Uni Last week, University of Sydney vice-chancellor Michael Spence was guaranteeing no staff will be forced to take redundancy ahead of a final staff plan and that any deals between staff and line managers which are not covered by the university's enterprise agreement are off. There's obviously now a final plan because this week the university announced plans to sack staff to fund new projects and restore ageing infrastructure, while using budget cuts to repair a $51 million drop in projected student fee income last year and this year. Under Dr Spence's plan, 100 academics who have not met the university's new mandatory minimum of three research publications over … [Read more...]
Changes to student visa assessment levels
20/02/2012 by
DIAC 15 February 2012 The Government has announced a reduction in assessment levels for 29 countries, effective from 24 March 2012. These changes will lower the minimum evidentiary requirements needed for the grant of a Student visa for certain countries and education sectors. The postgraduate sector stands to benefit the most, with applicants from China, India, Indonesia and Nepal now assessed at level 1. No country has had its assessment level increased. Go to NewsEXTRA Desk for all current entries. … [Read more...]
Overall international student numbers dip in 2011 – higher ed steady
20/02/2012 by
AEI - End of Year Summary of International Student Enrolment Data – 2011 In 2011, there were 557,425 enrolments by full-fee paying international students in Australia on a student visa. This was a 9.6% decline on the same period in 2010. There were 298,842 commencements in 2011, representing a 8.6% decline over the same period in 2010. In 2011, the Higher Education sector ranked first by volume of enrolments. The sector recorded growth of 0.1% in enrolments. By enrolments volume, the two largest source countries were China (40.2%) and Malaysia (7.4%). “Management and Commerce” was the most popular broad field of education with 51.1% of enrolments. The next most popular … [Read more...]
