Mumbai: Every year, thousands of students apply to universities in Australia to fulfill their study abroad dream. The dream is likely to become difficult as the Australian government is planning to tighten rules.
Australia will toughen entry requirements for international students to make sure they are not “pretending” to come for study, home affairs minister Clare O’Neil has announced.
The federal government will rewrite Australia's immigration system, with almost every visa category up for change, and a promise to tighten rules for international students with more support for graduates to find skilled work.
How will the proposed changes impact Indian students?
Ms O'Neil stated that Australia needs quality overseas students who can be facilitated with migration pathways.
Among the major proposed changes, the federal government is mulling scrapping the skills list and improving the visa process, including removing the points test for skilled visas. They are also considering granting "automatic" temporary graduate visas to people who complete their studies.
A Delhi-based consultant Deepali Sajnani told The Free Press Journal that English language requirements and regular quality checks in colleges have also been flagged in the report.
“The overall tightening will impact the number of international students that’ll be able to study here, which will have consequences for universities reliant on foreign student fees,” she added.
"It wouldn't be the first time," says Harsh Mheta, a University of Brisbane student.The new policy will simply result in fewer international enrolments from India. My buddies who were planning to study here will have to consider other countries as well."
"The reports claim that the vast majority of international students end up in the unskilled sector, whereas the truth is that the vast majority of Indian students in Australia are highly skilled, and are known for their business of studying hard, getting their qualifications, and going off to do whatever they want with their lives," Harsh clarified.
Dhaval Mehta, a career consultant based in Mumbai, said the suggestions were "sensible," but students who are already working towards permanent residency may be harmed by changes to the points test. "The direction of the reforms makes sense, but there are some thorny transitional issues," he remarked.
According to Dhvani Gupta, an Australian influencer on student visas, "The government is willing to ensure that International students who are moving to Australia for education pursuits are genuine, and I don't see there's anything wrong with it."
The final migration policy will be unveiled later this year after further consultations.
