Australia continues to welcome international students
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Large numbers of overseas students continue to apply for temporary visas to study at Australian universities, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans said today.
'In 2009–2010, a total of 291 128 applications for student visas were lodged, making it the third largest program year on record, just behind that of 2007–08,' he said.
Responding to concerns raised by the Group of Eight Universities, Senator Evans said despite a decline in applications in recent months, Australia remained an attractive education provider for many international students.
'There are several factors which have impacted on the recent decline in numbers of student visa applications including the stronger Australian dollar, the ongoing impact of the global financial crisis in some countries, increased competition in the education market and improved integrity measures,' he said.
Senator Evans said contrary to concerns expressed by the Group of Eight Universities, Australia's student program remains uncapped and student visas are not included in the nation's permanent migration program numbers.
There has been no increase in the processing times for student visa applications which remain within DIAC service standards and are internationally competitive.
'Students are only granted temporary visas to study in Australia and the Gillard Government remains committed to maintaining this as an uncapped program,' he said.
'Labor inherited a student program which failed to adequately detect fraudulent applications and lacked the necessary safeguards to ensure student visa holders were genuine and had sufficient financial support.
'This was one of the factors which led to the unsustainable explosion in student numbers. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, are now dealing with the same problem and are looking to follow Australia's example by tightening immigration controls.'
Senator Evans said Labor had already introduced regulations which were proportional to the risk posed by different categories of prospective students.
'The reforms introduced by Labor were designed to target high risk caseloads, deliver integrity and ensure only genuine students with the financial capacity to live and study in Australia are granted visas,' he said.
'We also introduced reforms to encourage higher numbers of postgraduate research students by streamlining the application process.
'Labor will continue to monitor the impact of these reforms and work collaboratively with education providers to further streamline administrative processes while maintaining the integrity of the system.'
Senator Evans said the reforms protect the quality of education Australia offers and help ensure the skilled migration program is more responsive to the nation's skills needs.
'The changes also remove incentives for international students to seek permanent residence through low quality education courses, a practice that damaged the integrity of both the migration program and the education industry,' he said.
'The Gillard Government is committed to a sustainable, high-quality international education sector and values the contribution it makes to the Australian economy.'
URL: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au
/media/media-releases/2010/ce10061.htm
Last update: 08 September 2010 at 18:27 AEST