Recent visa changes may benefit international students currently studying in Australia but may discourage those looking to start their studies here in the near future.
The Australian Government announced the visa changes on Monday (20 July), which included the recommencement of lodging visas offshore in anticipation of borders reopening and changing the conditions around post-study work.
Previously, students could not count remote study towards their post-study work rights in the country.
University of Canberra (UC) Pro-Vice Chancellor International, Lawrence Pratchett, welcomed the announcement for students already studying with the university. ย
โBefore the announcement, current students could study with us online, but it wouldnโt count towards post-study works. That decreased the incentive for students to continue studying with us during this time,โ he said.
โFor potential students, the visa changes havenโt allowed remote learning to be counted towards post-study work rights so itโs a disincentive for them to take up the offer.
โThis could have been managed quite effectively by the government if they limited the amount of the course that could be studied remotely and still count towards the rights.โ
Other changes to the visa included waiving the cost of a further student visa if required due to COVID-19 and additional time allowed to provide English language results if COVID-19 disrupted the services.
Professor Pratchett said the university sector and international students had been waiting on the announcement for several months.
โStudents have been waiting to hear and we have been waiting for this announcement for a long time,โ he said.
โThe government has been rather slow in delivering this and it was much more limited than we were hoping for.
โItโs a limited proposal when we think about other countries such as the USA and Canada and their governmentโs support towards international students.โ
There is still no indication of when international students will re-enter Australia, after UC and the Australian National University postponed joint plans to bring a charter flight of students back to the ACT to continue their study.
The universities originally put forward the proposal in mid-June but announced it would be postponed earlier this month due to a second wave of COVID-19 cases arising in Melbourne.
Professor Pratchett remained critical of the federal governmentโs announcement.
โWe were pleased the government has supported the international students in their statements, but we believe their actions havenโt reflected that,โ he said.
โThe sector will continue to lobby the government on this issue.โ
