Quote attributable to Go8 Chief Executive Vicki Thomson:
“The Government has acknowledged that our international student visa system must be underpinned by integrity and quality. However, by replacing one flawed process with another – effectively a ‘slowdown in processing’– it has shifted the goal posts yet again.
We run the risk of confusing the international student market with these constant changes to policy settings. For too many potential students, it makes Australia look too hard and too unwelcoming as a higher education destination.
Having set targets for each Australian university’s international enrolments for 2025, it makes no sense that prompt Government support in processing visas will only apply to 80% of that target.
Once more Government policy seems designed to leave significant budget holes for Australian universities, without financial compensation.
In the absence of a legislated cap, the Government has set a ‘Prioritisation Threshold” – the basis of which remains unclear. Even more bewildering is the fact that the Direction allows for processing to be slowed down once this threshold reaches 80 percent – not the full threshold.
Despite there being no legislative basis for setting international student numbers, our universities have set budgets based on a number provided to them by Government several months ago. Now, with just days before the end of the year, and with little apparent rationale, this number has shifted again.
In effect this is a backdoor to caps for all the wrong reasons, it fails to address the structural funding issues our universities face and will lead to even greater confusion for our international students.
We must exercise caution when introducing a new visa policy for international education in the absence of broader structural reform.