In policy discussions, we can often focus more on the elements of the system rather than its centre. International education is and should continue to be built on the student and their experience. The Koala News continues to promote the student and the student experience as a centrist pillar in ongoing discussions, and much work is being done to promote this view.
Tracy Harris focused on this in her piece “Anger and sadness – students respond to enrolment caps” (TKN 11/9/24), while “Students express anger over visa fee hike” (TKN 4/7/24) also looked at the student response to changes in the visa fee.
This past week, The Koala sat down with Ryan Shrestha, who is the Founder of Study and Work, to explore the impacts on students in these discussions.
Shrestha says, “It is apparent that both past and present Australian governments have viewed international students not as individuals with emotions, but as commodities because they do not have voting power in elections. Regrettably, these students are being used for the sake of our economy and political agendas.”
He bases this view on a number of policy objectives that students themselves find hard to navigate in the post-study world. He says “previously, courses are promoted as pathways to permanent residency, yet international students are required to prove in their visa applications that they have no intention of staying in Australia post-studies. With the introduction of the Genuine student test, this has been addressed.”
“In times of need for low-skilled workers, they were instructed to work full-time, putting their studies on second priority. Conversely, when their services were not required, they were restricted to part-time work, forcing some to take second cash-in-hand jobs at sub-minimum wages to cope with soaring living expenses.”
“To promote Australian education to international students, post-study visas were extended from 2 years to up to 6 years when the industry needed a boost, encouraging more students to apply to study in Australia. However, as soon as student numbers surged, the post-study visas were abruptly reduced back to 2 years with little notice.”
He is right, and Karl Konrad presents one story that impacted the Koala in his immigration news update on YouTube. In this, he interviews Helena, an international student from the USA who finds herself on the wrong side of the change to the age limit for post-study work. The interview that aired on 15 June 2024 can be seen here (from 8.10). The Koala highly recommends viewing this.
In a changing system, the Koala often hears the word ‘certainty’. What stakeholders require is certainty. Students are no different. The amount of time and money students forgo to make studying in Australia a reality is easily undermined by a slight change in policy.
Surely, the “rules” that the student enters the country on should be the rules that govern their stay, not changed haphazardly only to see their dreams and savings fundamentally altered and not positively.
As for the future, Shrestha says, “With capping, there has been a lot of discussion in the media about its introduction. What will come from capping is an increase in quality and this may well be a good thing.”
“We hope that the planned changes in the Subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa, particularly the reduction in work experience requirement to 1 year, will assist those that do obtain visas will have a better opportunity to extend their stay and find longer-term opportunities in Australia at a fair pay rate.”
“After all, keeping the skilled international students in Australia is good for international students, good for education providers, good for Australian employers, and good for Australia’s skills building,” he says.
