Universities Australia has welcomed a federal government announcement to increase the post-study work rights for international students, saying it would address Australia’s “critical skills shortages”.
The organisation’s chief executive Catriona Jackson said only 16% of Australia’s international students stay on after completing their studies, leading to a “brain drain”.
“It’s critical that we develop the skills of Australian students to maintain a homegrown pipeline of talent,” Jackson said.
“But at the same time, extending post-study work rights sends the right signal to international students who want to use their Australian education in Australia’s regions and cities, when and where there is a clear need for their skills.”
Writing for The Mandarin, former deputy secretary at Immigration Dr Abdul Rizvi noted a shortage for state and territory governments in the area of early childhood teaching.
“The pathway for highly qualified overseas students who have successfully studied early childhood teaching and teaching appears to include unnecessary obstacles,” Rizi wrote.
Further, Jackson named health, engineering, and information technology as other areas where the country had a shortage of skilled workers.
Minister for education Jason Clare and minister for home affairs Clare O’Neil jointly made the announcement on Friday.
Under the changes, post-study work rights timeframes will be increased for select degrees for the following categories: from two years to four years for bachelors, from three years to five years for masters, and from four years to six years for PhDs.
A working group made of representatives from Universities Australia, the Council of International Education, the National Tertiary Education Union, and the Departments of Home Affairs and Education will be set up for the development of this plan.
On the announcement, O’Neil said international education was an important industry “heavily impacted” by the pandemic.
“The outcomes from the Jobs and Skills Summit are geared towards supporting international education and giving the students who earn degrees in Australia the chance to contribute to the productivity of our economy,” O’Neil commented.
A report is due back from the working group by 28 October 2022 to the ministers.
READ MORE:
2021 is the year Australia’s international student crisis really bites
Anna Macdonald is a Sydney-based Journalist at The Mandarin. She was previously at Mumbrella, reporting on Australia’s media and marketing industry. She graduated from the Australian National University with a Bachelor of Arts and Laws.
People: Catriona Jackson Clare O’Neil Jason Clare
Companies: Universities Australia
Departments: Department of Education Department of Home Affairs
Tags: bachelor Brain drain degrees Education engineering health immigration information technology international students Jobs and skills summit masters Migrants PhD skills skills shortage students
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