Think Before- A Student Safety Initiative
A new initiative has been developed to promote situational awareness to international students. This initiative is authored an promoted by police across Australia to help improves the safety of international students. Stakeholders from a wide variety of agencies including Victoria Police, ISANA, Australia Network, government, education and industry have contributed both funds and in-kind services to support it.The Think Before tagline reinforces the message that international students need to be aware of their surroundings, particularly late at night on public transport, and to plan their travel.
Please meet George, the face of this campaign. He stars in his very own animation and can speak 14 languages. George also has a website http://www.thinkbefore.com , mobile site http://m.thinkbefore.com, free Apple and Android applications and he can be found on your social media site and public video channels such as YouTube. Stay connected with George by joining his facebook page or twitter at http://twitter.com/ThinkBeforeCom.
Visit George and spread the word, lets make him go viral all around the world.
Stay safe and Think Before you travel.
Student visa cuts to cost jobs, say universities
They have warned that such a move could cripple the nation's fourth largest export market and lead to massive job losses.
And business has condemned the Opposition Leader's planned cuts to immigration levels, saying he is "pitching to short-term self-interest".
Labor accused Mr Abbott of "a sneaky political trick", claiming he had added up the projected cuts in net overseas immigration arising from existing government policy, and claimed them as his own.
The announcement of the Coalition's plan to cut international student visa numbers comes as a senior delegation from Universities Australia led by Peter Coaldrake, Vice-Chancellor of Queensland University of Technology, is due to meet Department of Immigration officials in Canberra today. The delegation will ask for a change in policy to allow overseas students who come to do a degree to be given the chance to work here for two to three years and then return home.
Mr Abbott announced yesterday that a Coalition government would cut the nation's annual rate of net overseas immigration to no more than 170,000 people a year by the end of the next parliamentary term.
The Coalition policy would reduce Australia's annual rate of population growth from more than 2 per cent to the historical long-run average of 1.4 per cent within its first term.
Given that employer-nominated skills migration and 457 temporary business visa numbers would be quarantined from the policy, the most likely cuts would be to overseas student numbers, which Mr Abbott said represented "the largest contributor to net overseas migration".
"What we are planning to do is to get our immigration levels to those which we believe are economically, environmentally and politically, if you like, sustainable," Mr Abbott said.
Universities Australia chief executive Glenn Withers has called on both sides of politics to stop trying to destroy the international student industry, which generates about $18 billion a year in export earnings.
"International student numbers are already falling substantially, including from the quality students who enhance university education here," Dr Withers said yesterday.
"Universities Australia asks all political parties to step back from causing additional damage to this area.
"A severe drop in international student numbers would cost many Australians their jobs.
"For example, according to Access Economics estimates, a 50 per cent drop in international student numbers represents 62,000 jobs gone -- and this process is already happening.
"Many of these jobs are in marginal and regional seats where universities and colleges are a major community presence".
Dr Withers said international education revenue contributed to the facilities and staff for domestic students too.
"Universities rely crucially upon that help," he said.
"Cutting overseas student numbers is equivalent to a tax or tariff on tertiary education. And it will make it even harder, not easier, to increase domestic skill provision.
"Universities Australia calls on the parties to be clear in the period ahead on how their tertiary education budget commitments will increase to offset the effects of any such cuts in international student numbers, how jobs for employees displaced will be created, and how our reputation abroad for Australian education as a welcoming destination will be maintained."
Jennie Lang, international pro vice-chancellor at the University of NSW, said cuts would be crippling to the sector.
"It's important to realise the international students have offset significant funding for universities," Ms Lang said.
"The presence of international students has been important for the continual internationalisation of our campuses."
She said universities were able to offer a diversity of courses because of strong international student numbers.
"It would be crippling and would mean a loss of staff and there would be a question mark put over programs," Ms Lang said.
Mr Abbott yesterday challenged Julia Gillard to name a migration number after she placed population at the forefront of the campaign last week when she questioned whether it was time to declare that areas such as western Sydney and southeast Queensland had reached the limit of their capacity for growth.
"You cannot have a population discussion without also having an immigration discussion," the Opposition Leader said.
Labor seized on a report to be released today by economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel that predicts population growth will slow considerably in 2010-11 and 2011-12 as net overseas immigration declines.
BIS Shrapnel forecast a "sustained decrease" in net overseas immigration over the next two years, with the net figure falling to 175,000 in 2010-11 and 145,000 in 2011-12.
Sustainable Population Minister Tony Burke said Mr Abbott's immigration announcement "is nothing more than a sneaky political trick".
"All Mr Abbott has done is add up the current projected cuts in net overseas migration arising from existing government policy and call it his policy," Mr Burke said yesterday.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Katie Lahey expressed disappointment at the Coalition announcement.
"There is a temptation around election time to offer simple solutions, and to pitch to perceived short-term self-interest rather than long-term national interest," Ms Lahey said.
"Migration trend figures suggest the Coalition's approach would have little net effect on the program, but it is nonetheless disappointing to see our political leaders engage in such populist rhetoric."
Growth would offset the cost effects of Australia's ageing population, Ms Lahey said.
Source: The Australian
Immigration is already falling
The Opposition Leader announced yesterday that a Coalition government would cut the annual net overseas migration from 300,000 to 170,000 places within three years, with foreign student numbers expected to be slashed.
But experts said the immigration level for this year had already fallen to 230,000 and was on track to drop to 170,000 by June next year, adding that the move would result in tens of thousands of job cuts.
Sustainable Population Minister Tony Burke said Mr Abbott's announcement was nothing more than a sneaky political trick.
All Mr Abbott had done was add up the current projected cuts in net overseas migration - arising from existing policy - and called it his policy, he said.
The education export sector is Australia's third largest earner, after coal and iron ore exports, at nearly $19 billion a year.
Australian National University demography expert Peter McDonald said it was not a good idea to shoot yourself in the foot by saying you're not going to bring in overseas students.
Prof McDonald said Mr Abbott's 300,000 migrant statistic was outdated, and that it was hard to predict migrant intakes from year to year.
"All we can see over the next five or 10 years is very strong demand for labour," the director of the ANU's Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute said.
Most employment growth in the next decade would come from migration.
Mr Abbott said a Coalition government would reduce the population growth rate to 1.4 per cent within its first term.
"What we are planning to do is to get our immigration levels to those which we believe are economically, environmentally and politically sustainable," he said.
However, economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel said in May that net migration was expected to drop to 175,000 people in 2010-11 - a 1.5 per cent growth rate - and to 145,000 people in 2011-12 - a 1.3 per cent growth rate.
Prof McDonald said he didn't believe migration would fall that dramatically.
"I doubt net overseas migration figures will fall that much," he said.
The Business Council of Australia said Mr Abbott's plan was disappointing.
"We would be concerned to see policies that reduce the attractiveness of Australia to foreign students who are undertaking genuine secondary or tertiary studies, given the importance of this industry to our overall economic wellbeing," chief executive Katie Lahey said.
Universities Australia said dramatic cuts to student visas could cost tens of thousands of jobs, and likened any moves to reduce overseas students to a tax on tertiary education.
A severe drop in international student numbers would cost many Australians their jobs, chief executive Dr Glenn Withers said.
Greens leader Bob Brown said the Coalition's plan to cut migration would unfairly target people wanting to reunite with their family.
"I suspect it's going to hit the humanitarian intake, family programs," he said. "If so, it's not part of the social contract we want to see in Australia."
The Federal Government has already acted to crack down on foreigners taking up "low-value" education courses, such as hairdressing, to seek permanent residency.
Source: Herald Sun
Students far from home in crowded rental market
Last year the Victorian Tenants Union received a call from a student living in a house in Melbourne's western suburbs where 10 people shared a room with five beds.
''They were all students and they did shiftwork. So they'd take it in turns to sleep. It was one of the more shocking things that we heard about,'' Tenants Union spokesman Toby Archer said.
The rent for a shared bed in the Sunshine home was about $100 a week and, despite calling the union's advice line, the student didn't want to make an official complaint.
''They're just worried that telling us will somehow threaten their home. So it goes nowhere,'' Mr Archer said.
According to Melbourne University professor of higher education Simon Marginson, poor-quality housing is affecting international students' grades and compromising their safety. ''Many students live in multiple-student households in houses which are family-sized residences with three, four or five bedrooms and they're living often in numbers like 10, 15 or even 20,'' said Professor Marginson, who recently co-authored a book, International Student Security, based on 200 interviews with students from 35 countries at 11 Australian universities.
Suyong Mahindroo arrived in Melbourne in February. He applied too late for on-campus housing at Monash University, where he is completing a master's degree, and has struggled to find suitable accommodation.
''I had a look at a place and it had nowhere to eat. If you cook, you eat on the bed. It was really, really tiny,'' he said.
When the 27-year-old reluctantly leased a flat, he says it took the agents over a month to fix the stove, which was broken when he moved in.
''The whole experience of coming here as an international student and looking for a place to live, that takes months, and it affects everything,'' Mr Mahindroo said.
He said he heard stories all the time of students living in bad conditions. ''My roommate's girlfriend knew of someone who was staying with 12 other people in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom place. Thirteen people in one apartment. That is insane.''
Australian government statistics show that as of May 2010 there were 462,266 full-fee international students enrolled at universities, schools, TAFEs and colleges.
Universities offer international students access to on-campus housing, but the spaces fill up quickly.
Professor Marginson said that about one third of international students were from poor backgrounds and often worked above the 20-hour-a-week limit set by their student visas.
Danielle Hartridge, from Victoria University's International Student Support office, said that despite a massive increase in student housing built by private companies over the past 15 years, much of that housing was not affordable.
''That pushes them back out into the rental market and forces them to share with a number of people to keep those costs down,'' she said.
Source: The Age
New peak body for all international tertiary students
International students from all post-school educational sectors now have unified a representative voice, following elections to the new Council of International Students Australia (CISA) in Hobart last week. The peak body boasts 52 founding organisations from all states and from the four post-school sectors of postgraduate, undergraduate, VET and "pre-university" - a term which covers English language schools as well as university colleges. The meeting elected an executive committee of 14, also comprised from all the sectors.
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Australia's appeal is waning, say overseas agents
John Findley said Australia was becoming less popular because of the exchange rate, high tuition fees, less attractive commissions for agents and the greater ease of securing visas to the US and UK. He told The Australian newspaper: "All agents (in China) are fed up with our current government's attitude to migration."
The comments demonstrate the extent to which perceptions of government visa policy among students and agents can affect universities' attractiveness.
Despite Mr Findley's suggestion that the UK is among the nations taking Australia's place in the overseas market, many in Britain are worried that changes to the Tier 4 visa system may put off students.
Mr Findley, whom The Australian described as an education and migration expert who represents a "range of providers", said the US F-1 and British Tier 4 student visas were regarded as easier to obtain than Australia's 573 student visa.
"Australia is seen as second rate in the global education stakes. It gets the student business because the students see a pathway to migration," he said.
He added that all the agency sales staff he had met at the recent Beijing International Expo were trying to get into their company's US department.
"The best recruiters are deserting Australia. All agencies, including (Australia's biggest education broker) IDP, promote the US on their websites. These days, most make the US their headline offering; many are relegating Australia to third, or fourth behind New Zealand. Australia (used to be) the headline," he said.
However, an IDP spokesman denied that the broker promoted the US ahead of Australia. "Australia is the main part of our business and will remain so. By offering the US as a destination, as well as Australia, we reach a far larger pool of students interested in international education," the spokesman said.
Source: Time Higher Education
Australian High Commission Moves to Quash Student Visa Fears
As a large proportion of overseas students studying in Australia come from India, the tough talking by Australia’s first female Prime Minister has provoked concern there that Australia was about to make it even harder for Indian students to study in Australia.
The Australian High Commission therefore, have had to clarify issues to do with Australian immigration policy to quell the rumours. They issued a statement which read: “In response to recent media reports on changes to Australia’s skilled migration program, the High Commission would like to clarify the following points. First we are making changes to Australia’s skilled migration program, not our student visa program.”
Some GSM visas have now been capped by the DIAC, but none of these have been student visas, the visas affected by the capping and ceasing policy are:
- Subclass 134 – Skill Matching
- Subclass 136 – Skilled Independent
- Subclass 137 – Skilled State/Territory-Nominated Independent
- Subclass 138 – Skilled Australian Sponsored
- Subclass 139 – Skilled Designated Area Sponsored.
None of these apply to the many students studying in Australia and contrary to rumour, no student is now going to be sent home. All can continue to study in their chosen courses, at the end of which, they still have the right to apply for an additional 18 month stay in Australia.
The High Commission also disputed that the changes were aimed at India; “the changes we are making to our skilled migration program are global changes. They are not targeted at India or any other country. They were not triggered by the problems of the last year over attacks on Indian students.”
On visa capping the High Commission stated that the Capping Bill is currently before the Australian Parliament and that it is designed to “meet the labour market needs of the Australian economy as flexibly as possible.” But confirmed that the DIAC had no plans to extend that capping to student visas.
Overseas students in Australia are worth millions for the Australian economy and as the majority of those students are from India, it was vital for the Australian Commission to respond to the concerns of the student community and deny reports that they were actively discouraging students from India. It is now hoped that Australia can continue to be seen as a welcoming country for overseas students.
Source: www.pieronline.com
Skilled occupations list for migrants updated
1 July 2010A major reform to the skilled migration program which comes into effect today will help
deliver workers needed to meet skills shortages in the Australian economy, Minister for
Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans said.
The new skilled occupations list (SOL) will apply from 1 July and provide employers with
access to skilled workers from 181 highly valued occupations, including managerial,
professional, technical and trade occupations.
“The Government’s reforms to the skilled migration program are delivering the workers our
economy need to the regions where there is real demand,” Senator Evans said.
“We have already seen the rate of employer and state-sponsored skilled migrants increase from 29 per cent in 2007-08 to 55 per cent this current year. And the latest figures illustrate businesses are already using the new system to recruit the skilled workers they need to meet demands in Western Australian and Queensland.”
Both Western Australia and Queensland have seen increases to the share of skilled
migrants coming to their respective states.
In 2004-05, 12 per cent of all permanent migrants settled in Western Australia. This figure
had increased to 16 per cent in 2008/09. Western Australia is also attracting more workers
under the employer sponsored program. The state accounted for 16 per cent of the program
in 2007/08 and this grew to 24 per cent in 2008/09.
The total permanent migration figures in Queensland have also increased from 17 per cent
in 2004-05 to 20 per cent in 2008/09.
The new SOL was formulated on the advice of the independent body Skills Australia.
The Government recognises the changes may affect some overseas students currently in
Australia who had been intending to apply for permanent residence. The introduction of the
new SOL provides generous transitional arrangements for people who were former and
current international students at the time the changes were announced on 8 February 2010.
International students who have the skills Australia needs will still be able to apply for
independent permanent migration or be nominated by employers.
The new SOL is available from the Department of Immigration of Citizenships (DIAC)
website at: www.immi.gov.au/skilled/sol.
