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Australia
Plans Massive Changes to Student Visa System
Looking to regain ground that it has lost over the past two years,
the government of Australia has announced plans to make dramatic
changes to its student visa system to make it easier and more
desirable for international students to come to Australia. The
changes include adding a post-education work visa, reducing the
amount of finances a student has to prove prior to admission, and
putting all higher education applicants into a low-risk pool,
regardless of country of origin. The visa system for vocational
education will not change.
International education is Australia's third-largest export, behind
iron ore and coal, but the number of international students has
fallen dramatically over the past two years. Media attention to a
number of physical attacks on Indian and other students in
Australia, increased competition for students and an often difficult
visa process have been pinpointed as factors in the decline of
international student visas.
“Our international
education sector is world-class, and the reforms announced today
will help entrench Australia as a preferred destination for
international students,” Senator Christopher Evans, the minister for
tertiary education, skills, jobs and workplace relations, said in a
statement in Canberra on Sept. 22.
Read the full story
in the
New York Times.
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