Low Foreign Student Numbers Alarm Australian Schools

Being able to study in Australia is one of the major reasons why so many foreigners come to the country yearly in fact, Australia's educational systems is considered by many as one of the best in the world. Thus, being able to study here is often described as a one in a lifetime opportunity.

However, according to the latest figures from the schools themselves, the actual number of foreign student enrollments have actually decline by a significant amount in the last few moths. As it turns out, this one didn't come as a surprised to many experts, who argue that this one is actually to be expected. They further blame the new immigration changes that were put into effect early these year as the one causing the decrease in foreign student numbers.

As can be recalled, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship has started a major revamp of the various immigration programs that it currently offers. One of the biggest of these revisions is the one that was done on the general skilled migration program. The changes saw the removal of more than a hundred jobs that has been considered by the department as being of low priority. Many of these jobs are the vocational ones being offered in the various colleges in the country.

Since a lot of foreign students are taking vocational courses, mainly because they are the easiest ones to get permanent residency with, the move has put them in a rather precarious situation. Many opted to simply cancel their enrollment and return to their home countries. On the other hand, those who chose to remain in the country have to face an unsure prospect, as their visa applications have been canceled automatically with the revamp of the jobs list.

And to seemingly add more headache to these foreign students, the student migration program itself also underwent several changes. One of the biggest of these was the increased in the required minimum funds that a student must present, which will greatly restrict the number of students coming in. another one is the increased educational requirements.

Thus, many school officials have voiced their worries as to how these would greatly affect the enrollment numbers. Indeed, in the few months after the changes have been fully implemented, more done a dozen colleges mainly catering the foreign student market were forced to close down due to lack of enrollment. This had lead to several education experts to ask for the reversal of these policies.

However, it seemed that the government is firm with regards to the new immigration policies. They said that these changes are badly needed by the country in order to get the right kind of workers. Thus, it is unlikely that they will change it anytime soon.