重量级的报道来了，引自campus review

yyhmm188

重量级的报道来了，引自campus review

这个就是大家以前经常看关于28，SOL新政等消息的地方
虽然说的不太准（说有第二个SOL）
说的是别的地方看来的（关于less than 20 BROAD occupations还引发大家的争论）
不过报道还是很多地方引用的，这里拿出来分享
今天的，还热着呢
Latest visa changes hit private resistance03 May 10 by John Ross
The latest changes to student visa processing arrangements seem reasonable enough, but ACPET says they could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
The peak private education body has come out swinging against the latest changes to student visa application processes, which will increase the scrutiny on people enrolling in packaged courses.
Immigration minister Chris Evans announced last week that people applying to study more than one course would be assessed according to their “highest risk” courses.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) assigns student visa applicants with risk assessment levels from 1 to 5, based on their nationality and intended education sector. Assessment levels are calculated according to their compatriots’ compliance with visa conditions in previous years, with postgraduate students generally considered lower risk.
Level 1 applicants – the lowest risk level – are allowed to apply electronically, with their applications processed relatively quickly. Higher risk level applicants have to provide more supportive evidence, including much tougher requirements around their financial capacity to live and work in Australia.
Evans said some applicants were evading this upgraded scrutiny by claiming they planned to follow up VET or bachelor courses with postgraduate study – plans they had no intention of pursuing.
Under the new arrangements, such applicants will now have their applications assessed at the risk level of their VET or bachelor courses – whichever is higher. English language courses will be exempt from the new arrangements.
“This measure will help reduce fraud by ensuring students are not able to select courses they do not intend to complete, simply to receive a more favourable risk assessment level,” Evans said.
Evans also announced an easing of assessment requirements for standalone postgraduate research visas. Applicants from about 25 high-risk countries – including China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Russia – have been reclassified as level 2. And students from 14 level 2 countries – including Bulgaria, East Timor, Israel and the Solomon Islands – will be treated as level 1.
“This latest round of changes strikes the right balance between making the visa application process easier for genuine students while imposing additional checks on those who may seek to abuse the system,” Evans said.
But the Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET) said the change would “hinder Australia’s most innovative international education institutions, punish well-intentioned students and further harm our reputation as a study destination”.
It said “the blunt withdrawal of opportunities for international students to package courses and embark on long-term study in Australia” would cause “serious contraction in the sector”.
“There is absolutely no evidence of widespread abuse of the student visa system by international students undertaking packaged programs,” said CEO Andrew Smith.
“Dedicated people will lose their jobs and good businesses will fail because of these changes. I ask the government to defer these changes, sit down with ACPET and other industry representatives and analyse the consequences and alternatives.
“We have real, effective and sustainable alternatives that will achieve the policy direction sought by the government without the harmful and costly consequences that have clearly not been considered.”
These alternatives include assessing risk levels against the track record of particular colleges, and asking the major banks to develop practical systems – such as dedicated accounts – to ensure the financial bona-fides of intending students.
Since August last year, DIAC has applied a series of “integrity measures” to student visa application processes, including tougher financial independence tests and a requirement for applicants from certain countries – including India, Nepal and Pakistan – to attend interviews.
DIAC figures suggest the student visa rejection rate has doubled in the past year (CR, 01.03.10). Around 15,000 applications were rejected between July and October last year, compared to 7500 in the corresponding period of 2008.
But ACPET believes the impact of DIAC’s policy changes has been much more severe, with only around half as many student visas being awarded as in earlier years. In 2008-09 around 320,000 student visas were granted, including around 66,000 to applicants in India, 54,000 in China and 14,000 in Nepal.
ACPET told Campus Review it believed thousands of genuine applicants weren’t getting visas because of arbitrary questioning and decision-making by DIAC officials. It said officials – along with agents – had been confused by the rapid policy changes, with the problems complicated by ‘lost in translation’ issues during interviews.
It said the providers hardest hit by the latest change would be reputable colleges offering qualifications ranging from certificate to postgraduate levels, and providers with articulation links to universities.
It said Evans – uncharacteristically – hadn’t consulted properly on the latest change, and that DIAC didn’t understand the cumulative impacts of the changes since August.
Gerald Lipman, CEO of the Adelaide-based International College of Hotel Management (ICHM), said the latest change would hit dual-sector institutions hardest.
He said ICHM offered three qualifications – an advanced diploma, Swiss Hotel Association diploma and bachelor of international hotel management – with students normally signing up for all three. “We structured our course this way because we believe that in hospitality, the hands-on skills are better taught in a VET environment,” he said.
He said the latest change put ICHM at a disadvantage compared to colleges operating only in the HE sector. And he said any change to the structure of ICHM’s courses should be driven by educational considerations, not DIAC policies.
ICHM is a member of the Association of Australian Hotel Schools. Lipman said it offered a similar program to fellow members the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School and Australian International Hotel School, which recently earned a glowing audit report from the Australian Universities Quality Agency (CR, 22.02.10).
“We graduate close to 100 students in our highest VET course, and we have a similar number of students graduating from our bachelor degree. There’s no evidence of students bailing out once they get the vocational qualifications,” he said.
CR sought a response to these concerns from Evans’s office. It didn’t respond.
Take international education off DIAC’s hands (CR, 03.05.10)