Government Action Asked For Foreign Student Issues

For people getting an education in Australia, the country has long been considered as a haven for academic undertakings. Indeed, the country's standing as having one of the best educational systems in the world today has been one of the biggest factors that draw thousands of foreign students here yearly. But as it turns out, this one is actually far from an ideal picture.

As it is, there is actually a lot of pertinent issues that many foreign students have to deal with when studying in the country. And a lot of them believe that, unless these are resolved soon, they will greatly affect not only the students themselves, but also the institutions that they are currently enrolled in. Thus, they are clamoring for the government to quickly find a solution for these problems.

One of the biggest issues of concern for many foreign students here is with regards to immigration. As can be recalled, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has begun revamping the student migration program in response to the Rudd government's thrust of getting more higher skilled workers into the country. Here, one of the biggest changes the that DIAC has implemented was the removal of more than a hundred vocational and other lower level positions in the Skilled Occupation List.

As it turns out, a lot of foreign students are actually taking these courses, mainly due to the fact the these are the easiest ones to go with when getting permanent residency. However, since these courses have since been removed from the list, the move has put many of these students' fate in limbo. In most cases, the students' visa application were automatically revoked upon the removal of their courses from the list.

The changes have also put a lot of colleges offering these courses into a rather peculiar position. As many of them are catering to mostly foreign students, the withdrawal of enrollments due to the above cancellation of visa applications have forced several to close down, while the others that where not able to meet the more stringent school qualifications set by the new foreign student program also ended with the same fate.

However, foreign students have found allies in many Australians themselves concerning the matter. A lot of experts have said that the new student migration rules will greatly affect the number of students in the country. They also aired concerns about how these will affect the foreign student industry, which is a big one in Australia. The government has responded by saying that it will ensured that legitimate students will not be severely affect by the new measures.

The government has also begun considering setting aside a specific secretarial post to deal with foreign student matters. This one, according to proponents, will help greatly in resolving the issues concerning a lot of foreign students, as it would be a more focused position, as compared to the current ones holding student matters.