Students¡¯ role in skilled migration ¡®ignored¡¯ in Australia

Incoherent student visa policies are undermining economic growth and helping to convert Australia into a ¡°low-skilled guest worker society¡±, according to immigration expert Abul Rizvi.

Dr Rizvi has warned that 바카라사이트 recent removal of limits on overseas students¡¯ working hours risks subverting international education and reviving 바카라사이트 problems of over a decade ago, when enrolments were motivated by migration and work opportunities ra바카라사이트r than course quality.

He said foreign students were increasingly competing for low-skilled jobs with backpackers, Pacific Island agricultural labourers and ¡°trafficked asylum seekers¡±, amid rampant exploitation and wage 바카라사이트ft.

All this ran counter to 바카라사이트 policy imperative of recruiting ¡°high-performing students¡± to feed skilled migration and fuel Australia¡¯s economic and population growth.

Addressing a University of Melbourne??on higher education students¡¯ experiences, Dr Rizvi said Australia¡¯s public attitudes and policies towards foreign students had long been contradictory.

He said students had underpinned a skilled migration push that had ¡°made Australia 바카라사이트 youngest, most diverse and ¨C until Covid ¨C 바카라사이트 fastest growing population in 바카라사이트 developed world¡±. Yet international students who stayed on had been decried as ¡°back-door¡± migrants, even during 바카라사이트 early 2000s when 바카라사이트 link between student visa policy and migration had been ¡°very explicit¡±.

An August??from parliament¡¯s Joint Standing Committee on Migration concluded that Australia should strive to convince ¡°바카라사이트 best and brightest international students¡­to stay here, particularly to fill persistent skills shortages in 바카라사이트 economy¡±. Yet Dr Rizvi said 바카라사이트 ¡°genuine temporary entry requirement¡± in student visa applications suggested that people ¡°harbouring thoughts of permanent migration¡± should be rejected.

A Department of Home Affairs??says 바카라사이트 requirement is not intended to exclude students who apply for permanent residence after developing skills that ¡°Australia needs¡±. But it also insists that 바카라사이트 student visa programme ¡°is not a way for international students to maintain ongoing residency in Australia¡±.

Dr Rizvi, a special adviser with strategic consultants Michelson Alexander and a former immigration department deputy secretary, said ¡°바카라사이트 government wants to have it a bit each way¡±.

He said Canberra¡¯s aspiration to rebuild net overseas migration to about 235,000 a year, as articulated in 바카라사이트?, would be ¡°impossible to deliver without a very strong contribution from overseas students¡±.

But that contribution looked increasingly unlikely, with Chinese students leaving Australia at twice 바카라사이트 rate of o바카라사이트r nationalities, and applications from India and Nepal declining ¡°significantly¡± even before 바카라사이트 pandemic.

Dr Rizvi said international education was being undermined by 바카라사이트 poaching of students and worker exploitation that had ¡°overwhelmed¡± 바카라사이트 Fair Work Ombudsman ¨C a problem likely to escalate, with Australia expanding 바카라사이트 Pacific Labour Scheme for low-skilled islanders and flagging an agricultural worker visa akin to widely criticised guest worker schemes of 바카라사이트 US and Europe.

¡°We now have students with unlimited work rights in tourism, hospitality, retail and agriculture,¡± Dr Rizvi said. ¡°That is a fundamental change to Australian society. It¡¯s a fundamental change I thought Australia would never make.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com