Category Archives: Australian PR

Mar 19 2010

Red Herrings… indeed: Summarising last 8 months of Indian-OZ tussle

”The whole racism issue has really coloured this debate in an unhealthy way, because when our media either seizes on that, or the Australian media in turn respond critically, we are essentially dealing with not black or brown or white, but red herrings,”
SHASHI THAROOR, MOS External Affairs, Government of India.
Quoted in THE AGE.
If Minister Tharoor believes that the whole racism issue is nothing but red herrings, then first lets understand what “Red Herrings” are…
The expression red herring is an idiom referring to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. For example, in mystery fiction, an innocent party may be purposefully cast as highly suspect through emphasis or descriptive techniques; attention is drawn away from the true guilty party.
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The idiomatic sense of “red herring” has, until very recently, been thought to originate from a supposed technique of training young scent hounds.[2] There are variations of the story, but according to one version, the pungent red herring would be dragged along a trail until a puppy learned to follow the scent[4]. Later, when the dog was being trained to follow the faint odour of a fox or a badger, the trainer would drag a red herring (whose strong scent confuses the animal) perpendicular to the animal’s trail to confuse the dog.[5] The dog would eventually learn to follow the original scent rather than the stronger scent. An alternate etymology points to escaping convicts who would use the pungent fish to throw off hounds in pursuit.[6]
In reality, the technique was probably never used to train hounds or help desperate criminals. The idiom probably originates from an article published 14 February, 1807 by journalist William Cobbett in the polemical Weekly Political Register.[7] In a critique of the English press, which had mistakenly reported Napoleon’s defeat, Cobbett recounted that he had once used a red herring to deflect hounds in pursuit of a hare, adding “It was a mere transitory effect of the political red-herring; for, on the Saturday, the scent became as cold as a stone.”[7] As British etymologist Michael Quinion says, “This story, and [Cobbett's] extended repetition of it in 1833, was enough to get the figurative sense of red herring into the minds of his readers, unfortunately also with the false idea that it came from some real practice of huntsmen.”[7]
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Now with reference to the Indian-OZ tussle-point, and using the above explanations from WIKIPAEDIA, we realise that there are not one RED HERRING but several…. Let me list them.
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The person who first called the Australians as Racist and who was quoted and projected by the Indian and Australian Media turned out to be neither an Indian, nor a Student and neither the formation had any validity as the voice of the Indian community. As exposed later, his comments were clearly without basis and even he tried to distance himself from them. However, the damage was done big time and everyone believed the media hype following the claim without waiting for facts to emerge. All instances of attacks by anyone including when the offender was a migrant of similar colour, fake claim of attacks for insurance or simple mugging and even deaths of Indians by Indians were seen as acts of Racism. Australia was branded as Racist and there were even suggestions that India should move for a sanction by the Commonwealth. The first and the original Red Herring…
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The Victorian Police Chief gave statistics on crime on Indians soon thereafter. Later it turned out that the crime stats are not kept on nationality but on the basis of appearance and what he described as Indians, actually included several nationalities. Further, since the crime data for other “appearances” was kept under clearly described categories such as Caucasians or Asians, Media assumed that attacks or crimes has only been against Indian nationals. This is second Red Herring…
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The Indian Government displayed significant patience and maturity. However, the External Affairs Minister, Mr Krishna, speaking at a function organised by an American body, made a statement that indicated, “Indians were being singled out in Australia”. This led to a number of serious commentators in Indian media to also believe that the killings of Indians in Australia over the last many years has been largely targeted and targeted by Australians. As data stood before us, this turned out to be totally unfounded. Of the last 15-16 deaths of Indians in Australia in last two years, only 1-2 is still under investigation. Of all the other deaths, it is now found that clearly in about 10 cases, it is people of Indian Origin themselves who have killed the other Indian. The remaining few cases of last two years has been deaths due to suicide or accident or by drowning. However, when the senior minister made the comment, many took it at face value.  Indian students and Parents continue to believe that INDIANS ARE INDEED BEING SINGLED OUT. This was third Red Herring…
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Without waiting for investigations to complete in the Ranjodh killing, MOS Preneet Kaur, received the body as it arrived in India and then laid a wreath from the Government giving it a “martyr” status. She also made a comment at the occasion indicating that a second advisory had been issued asking students not to go to Australia. The reality was very different but only surfaced after the Media had blown up the issue. Indians killed Ranjodh and he was possibly someone who had entered Australia illegally using a contract wedding and his legal widow stays on even right now in Australia and did not participate in the funeral. The “second travel advisory” was also incorrect awareness of the MOS and the Ministry immediately posted a correction on its website indicating that there is no second advisory and Indian students have not been asked to avoid travelling to Australia. The fourth Red Herring…
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Australian Government remained fractured between the actions in the state of Victoria and the comments being made in Canberra.  There appeared a push primarily to show to all that the acts were not racist and there was little that appeared to be done to act immediately to curtail the street violence in the city of Melbourne. Steps were taken but very late and very slow. The Press quotes provided by the functionaries in Victoria remained badly worded and focussed more on defensiveness and justifications. Clearly the focus of the Australian Government was now distracted and revolved around the sting of the word “racism”. Damage continued as crime continued. Indians continued to believe Australia to be in denial. Red Herring No. 5.
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Focus shifts to QUALITY of INDIAN STUDENTS. Hence scapegoats were found: Private Colleges and their agents. Rapid audits were announced and visas were immediately tightened. This led to closure after closure of colleges. These colleges should not have been in existence in the first place itself but that happened because of low compliance level of the State Government. However, now the tightening and the closures led to different problems for students who were in Australia legally and on valid visas. The Aussie Education brand was affected in the process.  The reality is that the ones to be affected at the end were the Universities and the quality providers and their quality agents who for no fault of theirs were being termed as “bad quality”. Journalists who were not education journalists were quoting in parts totally out of context and even the fall in visa numbers due to the severe visa tightening was projected as a drop in interest of Indian students due to “racism in Australia”. This in turn had a spiralling effect and the market finally lost interest in Australia even in reality. This is the Red Herring No. 6.
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Australia’s USP to International students has been the pathway to work/settlement. There is nothing fishy about this at all and world over all education destinations do offer this pathway using one terminology or another. However, a direct result of noise was the new-belief of so-called experts that this umbilical cord needs severing. Many students who can actually be able to contribute so well in Australia will soon find it difficult to stay on. The intention of ensuring that only those who can get a job stay on or even simply continuing with the reforms that had taken place in the system over the last two years could, easily have enforced that those who are willing to apply their education to workplace in the same line of occupation are granted residency. There was no need to replace the system totally and only fine-tuning would have served the purpose. Australia needs Immigration and potential OZ educated migrants are indeed best fit. More will now be affected and OZ is the loser at the end. Red Herring No. 7.
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In the election year, Australian Opposition is trying to use this issue to attack the Labour Government. Labour Government blames the Liberals stating that it is the result of the policies of the Howard regime. The reality is that the problem was not with legislation then or now but only in compliance of the legislation, then and now. ESOS even in current format is a solid document but hardly enforced. There is no guarantee that it will be enforced after the changes Compliance did not get so much of attention and only the blame-game continued. Who wins, will be known later this year but who is definite to lose is already known. Indian students and OZ-Indian free trade. Australian quality education providers and Australia. POLITICS is the Red Herring No. 8.
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Last eight months has proven that audience has indeed been diverted from the truth due to the RED HERRINGS…
Mar 13 2010

AUSTRALIA loses its USP with changes to SOL/PR RULES & threaten downsizing of the Education Export Business

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New SOL and PR changes threat closure and downsizing of Colleges, TAFEs and also Universities. Losses of jobs, slowdown in economy are byproducts.
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A few weeks ago, a friend commented, in reference to the DIAC tag-line, on my blog: “OZ always said “PEOPLE OUR BUSINESS”, they never said education our business. So, we provided them with what they wanted and it is their headache now to fix it. “
My reply, in continuation of what I shared in my last blog regarding transfer of some roles from AEI to AUSTRADE, is: “OZ has an unsaid mantra that EDUCATION IS ONLY BUSINESS.”
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Now coming to more serious and threatening issue:
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Developments since mid of last year resulted in reviews after reviews being announced with an assumption that the system is not working. This HAS BEEN a huge mistake. There were many systems that had already been improved upon due to other monitoring mechanisms over the years but were now being junked, as each review has to result in a change. Let me give two such examples here:
  • 1. In September 2008, DIAC, following a realization that there were a number of migrants who would use MODL to clear the pass mark but would never practice that as a profession, modified the full MODL points process. The new system initiated required only those who had one year of experience following the qualification in the MODL occupation could count it as a MODL. THIS WAS SUCH A MAJOR CHANGE and would have put an end to “TAXI DRIVERS entering as ACCOUNTANTS” or “COOKS working in SALES”. However, not sufficient time was allowed at all for it to be tested. The review was initiated even when there was no data available to prove this 2008 change was “not working” and now the MODL has been dropped altogether.  Whatever the experts may say, a good system instead of fine-tuning has now been put to rest.
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  • 2. In mid 2009, DIAC announced that from 2010 a job-ready test would be used to ensure that all with trade skills actually have gained the requisite skills that are in shortage and will need better English levels. THIS WAS A MAJOR CHANGE AGAIN AND WOULD HAVE ADDRESSED THE KEY ISSUE and also driven the need for better education delivery by Private Colleges. Now, without even trialing it, it stands junked.
PEOPLE are the one most confused by DIAC’s business decisions.  Hence the DIAC slogan is a mere creation of copy-writers. Knowing that changes are certainly DIAC’s prerogative, it does not need to keep repeating that Immigration rules do change and will change. It also do not need to repeat that students should not assume that they will get immigration post their course of study. It is known and was never assumed. However, any sensible mind, will definitely assume that if  a change is announced, it will be given a period of time to deliver  before it is again reviewed and junked. I forgot, this time period for testing and review, only applies to a particular decision on India’s AL. Not in other aspects of DIAC’s business!!!
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I had done an earlier blog titled PLANNED VACUUM and it is now proving to be worse. PEOPLE are now air-less completely and suffocating. There is no clue to the direction that Australia’s immigration policies will take.
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There is an email in circulation from a Migration Agent who summarized his impressions from the DIAC Asst Secretary at a recent MIA Conference. I wrote to him for a permission to use his name since the email is already in wide circulation/distribution. However, my mail to him bounced as it was treated as a spam. I use content from his mail in parts only and will not reference it to him though would have preferred doing that. He does make a lot of sense when he writes:
It appears that from 1 July 2010 the new approach is for DIAC and the Australian Government to target its Immigration to cater for the current labour market needs. In doing so, the new Skills Australia SOL that will replace the current SOL, CSL and revoked MODL will have a list that is much more like one that is already existent in New Zealand and it is a system that does not seem to work.
What Australia seems to be saying is that a student is meant to study but we still want them to experience the Australian workforce and local employment culture and if it so happens that their occupation is on the new SOL then they will need to prove that they can get full time employment of at least one year and prove their ability to Australian Standards (under the SC485) and during such time if the employer like the candidate that they hired then it would up to the employer to sponsor this candidate to meet the labour market needs under Employer Nomination Scheme.
The truth of the matter out there in the labour market that we asked DIAC is how many Australian employers out there who would be willing to employ an overseas student who has not much experience in their field of study and invest in the sponsorship of that candidate. As I am an Australian employer and looking at an overseas candidate that I need to spend thousands of dollars to help that candidate to get PR to be able to retain them as an employee as opposed to a local Australian candidate I would rather invest in the latter. Wouldn’t you?
The shift that is going to happen post 1/7/2010 will be that Skilled – Independent will be very limited and that Skilled – Sponsored by State Nomination will be somewhat favoured because a candidate will need to show that they have an employer and that the Employer has offered them an employment but really the preferred scheme as told by the DIAC representative is that pathway above which in itself has many flaws.
So where does that leave the education sector and GSM? Well I can say based on that insight it is a real dark place which in the long run it will not achieve its intended purpose of encouraging new labour force to enter the labour market to subsidise for the baby boomers who are retiring and needing the new breed of labour force to subsidise for their pension.
If I were a student, I would not want to come to Australia to study if I am using this as vehicle for Immigration nor would I come to Australia to study and even consider applying PR at the end of my study. Too many hoops to jump. Too many barriers of entry. Is it even worth it? After much consideration, I would rather go back to my country and work back home. So in effect we will not get these new breed of labour force in the Australian labour market all together.
It will have the opposite effect of what is intended and the Australian Education Sector being at the forefront of it is to feel that by a net reduction of Overseas student to Australia in the next few years and beyond as the Australian Tsunami is about to hit on 1/7/2010. Good Luck to Us All!!!
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Now coming to the new SOL draft. Though it is only a draft and the final list will be available in April, the draft by itself is frightening.
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The AUSTRALIAN on 3rd March reported in an article titled JOBS LIST WILL DASH HOPES OF RESIDENCY, the reactions to the shortlist:
Mr Konrad said cooks, hairdressers and accountants made up more than 60 per cent of applicants waiting in the onshore skilled migration pipeline.
“Given the statistics of 60 per cent [waiting in the] pipeline, you’d have to say 70 [per cent] to 80 per cent of students would have their hopes of achieving [permanent residency] dashed,” Mr Konrad said.
He said fresh graduates of accounting and information were unlikely to meet the new criteria.
A broad range of professions – including surgeons, judges and lecturers – make up 52 of the 92 “specialised occupations” on the draft Skilled Occupation List.
Para-professionals such as fire, police and emergency services, and 22 trades – not including cooking and hairdressing – make up the balance of the list.
Skills Australia said the new list would be based on the 92 specialised occupations but might differ in the final occupations included.
However, I was intrigued by the comment from UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY in this article:
University of Technology, Sydney business dean Roy Green said the draft list was dramatic and “much more credible than anything we have seen previously”.
“UTS business will look very closely at this list to see which occupations were included and excluded,” Professor Green said.
“We note accountancy is still included, which is an important part of our intake of overseas students.”
I really wonder how closely Professor Green really looked, to hint that since Accountancy is still included, their intake of overseas students is protected.
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The reality is that Accountancy is on the draft list but with an asterisk(*) and if you look at the second page there is an indication that only CPA or equivalent will be acceptable. Now, for a fresh student from a Masters in Professional Accounting type course to become a CPA, one has to not just clear some more additional tests, one also has to have 3 years of article experience. Hence, is it not closing the door on Accountancy in reality?
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For those who are still hunting the full draft list, I share it below, courtesy a friend…
Now only time will tell whether the knee-jerk move to delink education from being a migration-pathway is indeed a right decision. I indicated in an earlier blog, education has been the pathway to work and settlement world-over and is not unique to OZ. I really wonder if the commentators and advisors are fully confidant themselves on the direction that they have advised the Australian Government. There appears to me a case of “over enthusiasm” and also “professional negligence” on part of the experts.
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Prediction:
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I predict that without the work/settlement pathway, Australian education’s USP vanishes and only the elite Universities (such at the GROUP of EIGHT) will be able to attract overseas students to Australia, albeit in even smaller numbers. TAFE, newer Universities and almost all private colleges should see the writing on the wall. All the good work over many years seems to be over. Less of International students will mean less jobs and slower economy…
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God, please make me wrong!!!
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I actually foresee a review being announced in 2011-12 and new changes once again in 2012-13. Mates, I will remind you all that I wrote this today and next time you will pay more attention to my words. Remember that there is a transitional arrangement in place for students currently studying in Australia and hence any impact that is felt will only after this group has exhausted all options to move to work/settlement post their study. Till then the statistics will keep misguiding us.
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G’day

Feb 16 2010

The “IRRESPONSIBLE” must take blame for the death of these “OZ-BOUND” students.

Many Indian parents believed the over-hyped media coverage on the Australian attacks and persuaded young students bound for “elite and safe” Universities to drop their plans over the last nine months. The fact is that some of these students were indeed NOT the “workers” going as “students” to be exposed to risky occupations such as “taxi driving” and were actually choosing serious academic courses at “secure” campuses of “elite” Universities.
I am doing this blog as an alumnus of once such University: Bond University on the Gold Coast, which clearly lives up to its reputation as a “Rolls Royce” amongst institutions. A beautiful custom built campus with students mostly staying on campus and with 24×7 security.
The tragedies that I will refer to are pertaining to students considering Bond as their study destination and will be backed by links giving the details.
Tragedy 1: Ashar Mendon
India’s most reliable TV channel, NDTV, reported on July 8, 2009 (see link):
Ashar Mendon was all set to study in Australia.
But now, the 18-year-old’s dream has died with him.
Ashar, the son of a garment exporter committed suicide by hanging himself in their flat in Colaba on Monday.
The reason: his mother scared by the racial attacks on Indians in Australia forbade him to go.
Just days ago, Ashar had got admission at the Bond University in New South Wales for an undergraduate Information Technology course.
The report does get it wrong on the location of Bond University but it is a fact that he had applied to Bond University indeed (Student ID 13089319 and for Sept 09 intake). He had also been issued an offer of admission.
Tragedy 2: Anindee Dhar (along with her brother and other friends)
Anand Bazar Patrika, on 15th Feb, reported that Anindee Dhar, a student at Pune, who died in the blast, was actually intending to study in Australia but once the media reported the attacks, the family changed the plans and she went to Pune. Due to the fact that she was in Pune, her brother who lives in Mumbai and her friend from Mumbai would travel over to Pune to meet her. They all died in the attack. What an irony indeed that in trying to escape the “reported” violence in Australia and met with death in India itself.
My gut feel is that she would have been safe and sound at the institution that she was intending to study in Australia. What a co-incidence indeed once again, the institution that she was being counseled for was Bond University, my alma mater and the course being Bachelors in Communication.
I want to share and put on record the article that has appeared in INDIA TODAY GROUP’S Mail Today newspaper, this day (see link):

KOLKATA GIRL HAD PICKED ‘ SAFER’ PUNE
HAD SHE pursued her dream of studying in Australia, 19- year- old Anindee Dhar may have been alive today.
Anindee and her brother, 24- year- old Ankik, were killed when a bomb ripped through German Bakery in Pune on Saturday.
IIT Kharagpur alumnus Ankik had come from Mumbai to celebrate his promotion at JP Morgan with his sister. The siblings were joined by friend Shilpa Goenka ( 23), who was also from Kolkata and who too was killed in the blast.
The three, along with two other friends, P. Sundari ( 23) and Binita Gadani( 22) — who were also killed in the blast — were munching on strawberry rolls when the blast snuffed out their lives.
Early last year, Anindee had approached the Salt Lake branch of Global Reach with her mother for counselling on which Australian university to apply to.
Sugata Das, the manager of counselling at the branch, remembered Anindee as a “ very lively girl”, who came in saying that she wanted to do her bachelor’s in arts Down Under.
A shocked Das said, “ She was such a good communicator that I advised her to apply for a bachelor’s in communication at Bond University, Gold Coast in Queensland, which would help her land a good job.”
Anindee’s mother, Das remembered, was very concerned about her daughter’s safety. “ I reassured her that Bond is one of the safest campuses in Australia with on- campus accommodation,” Das added.
The Dhar family was also making enquiries about sending their younger Aishik, to study in Australia once he finished school.
Anindee’s parents were in touch with Global Reach till May on Anindee’s education prospects in Australia. That’s when reports of attacks on Indian students Down Under hit the headlines.
“ These reports scared them, and they decided that they didn’t want to send Anindee to study in Australia,” Das said.
Anindee’s mother is now in a state of deep shock.
Global Reach MD Ravi Lochan Singh said the irony is that “ no student of Bond University drives taxis”, referring to the recent reports of attacks on Indian taxi drivers in Australia.
It was these attacks that had led to widespread fears of racist violence targeted against Indian students there.
Anindee, who was a photography and trekking enthusiast and a voracious reader, applied to Fergusson college in Pune, instead.
She excelled there as a student of English literature, topping her college’s internal exam.
Just a day before she died, Anindee had discussed threadbare the interpretation of death while reading Robert Frost’s poem, Stopping By Woods on A Snowy Evening in class.
It was the last poem she was destined to speak about in class.
As the one who established the Indian chapter of Bond University Alumni, I find it so unbearable to read about the two tragedies. Both these students would have done really well to proceed on to Australia for their UG degrees. Bond is the University that is chosen by several protective parents including the Sultan of Brunei for their children and there is no doubt that many other Universities would offer similar safe and secure study environment. Almost all attacks that have been reported have happened to those who have actually travelled to Australia on “student visas” though with clear intention to be “workers”. Almost all attacks have taken place in risky circumstances. And almost all the attacks have had little to do with University students. Further the recent deaths were not of students at all (Both Nitin Garg and Ranjodh were not students) and while Nitin’s killers are being hunted, Ranjodh’s killers turn out to be Indian brethren. The Racism theory stands challenged also when Jasbir was found to have engaged in self-inflicted injury in hope of “insurance claim”. Indian High Commissioner has certainly raised the need for increased security in the state of Victoria especially in certain parts of Melbourne. Both the above mentioned students would have been miles away in Gold Coast, a city that lives on tourism from all over the world. This is not to say that students in Melbourne especially at the Universities are in anyway unsafe. The University students are overall safer in Australia as compared to all other destinations and this is confirmed through various international studies and surveys including one that has been released today. FOUR Aussie cities including Melbourne and Sydney continue to be listed amongst livable cities and in top 10 worldwide while Mumbai stands at 117th rank.
Violence is unacceptable in any society but at the same time the incorrect and hyped picture of violence in Australia makes certain over-enthusiastic TV anchors and commentators unwitting accomplices in these tragedies. What is written and what is broadcasted using the LIVE medium has deep impact on the parents of these students in ways that require us to be even more responsible and careful about what we utter.
May the soul rest in peace of these young children of our country… May there be no more deaths… Will the Indian Media take some lessons?

Feb 9 2010

“Planned Vacuum” is the anxiety. Not the new Aussie Immigration Changes.

Australia revamped and put into immediate implementation on 8th Feb 2010, the revised Skills Migration Program, throwing thousands of onshore and offshore students into an unexplainable confusion due to the “vacuum”. Every country has the right to plan its own future and to decide on who fits the bill to reside in that country but what happened through the announcement was that there are many who would not know for several months whether they meet the requirements or not. And this is the concern. If unplanned, then I wonder the carelessness. If planned, then I wonder the reason.

I am borrowing the term “Planned Vacuum” from Mr Andrew Smith of ACPET as I think this describes the current state best. (Andrew has been quoted describing using this phrase). Ideally, the Australian Government should have announced the changed Point Test and the new SOL at this time itself. What we are told is that a new SOL will be announced a few months later. Whatever be the SOL, nobody will be able to plan without knowing the new point test, which only be told to us by mid 2010.

While the critics of the earlier program and so called commentators on migration policies are falling head over heels to be the first to provide their comments on the usefulness of the proposals making them sounds futuristic. If we go through the comments on the websites, even the general public is of the opinion that the “delinking of education from migration” will help the country.

I find all this misplaced imagination and without basis.

An academic reading of the proposals by myself and a qualified Migration expert, Krishan Poria, bring us to the following conclusion: PR possibly remains an option for students, The students who will meet the new demand occupations as listed through higher points in new and proposed SOL. Visa 485, which allowed the students the 18 months work, will continue and this is good news. Students will have option to move to this visa and then following experience onshore should be able to find pathways to migration and settlement. Genuine and qualified students stand to benefit.

  1. Revocation of the Migration Occupations in Demand List. – MODL doesn’t apply now so no points. Though most of the students were not using this but can be a big impact for offshore applications. Not on international students following the 2008 changes.
  2. Abolition of the Critical Skills List.- Critical list will go away in Mid 2010. This is nothing to do with points and makes no difference.
  3. The introduction of a new Skilled Occupations List in mid 2010. – need to wait for new SOL but all students having student visa before these changes can apply for Graduate skill visa but for PR they need to go for new SOL. I dont expect many changes in SOL but there might be few occupations where points can be lowered.
  4. A quota being placed on pre-1 September 2007 offshore applications with applications not coming within the quota being “terminated’ and the filing fee refunded. – This is only for offshore application so students who have applied for onshore applications are safe.
  5. Changes to priority processing. – This doesn’t mean much other than processing time.
  6. A review of the points test – this means that they might change points for certain things, need to wait and see.
  7. Allowing pre-1 January 2010 trades skills assessments to be used for General Skilled Migration applications so the holders of such assessments will not be required to undertake the Job Ready Program. – this is really good news and means that students who have skill assessment from TRA can apply onshore PR based on that instead of going for Job Ready Program.

I therefore summarize that the education as a possible pathway to migration still continues.  And this is good. For example, I do expect certain students who study engineering to be able move to either direct migration or after gaining some work exp in OZ. How is this different than what we had earlier. Maybe the difference is focus away from vocational skills to academic programs. But is this good for OZ????

Hence we are in a few months of “planned vacuum”. What purpose will this serve except for creating anxiety in the mind of several “Rhodes scholars” from “leading Universities” whom the Minister wants to make the future immigrant to Australia?

To understand the mind of the minister, I took a look at the speech Minister Chris Evans delivered at the Australian National University on the day the immigration changes were announced and I quote:

“Evidence shows that the best way of doing that it is to select those most likely to quickly secure skilled work: on the basis of their knowledge and experience and proficiency in English.

I am not confident that the current test is selecting the best. For example, a Rhodes Scholar would not pass the points test if he or she took a degree in chemistry or mathematics or economics. On the other hand there are several occupations – cooks and hairdressers come to mind – where international students can study in Australia, acquire qualifications in the space of 92 weeks, and be on the road to permanent residence shortly thereafter.

I am therefore instituting a review of the points test with the following considerations in mind:
  • should some occupations warrant more points than others?
  • are the points for age properly calibrated?
  • should points be awarded for qualifications acquired overseas from prestigious universities?
  • are sufficient points awarded for experience?
  • should more points be awarded for excellence in English?”
Minister, I understand your goals and actually appreciate it too. This is what I had argued way back in 2006 at a presentation at the Town Hall in Melbourne and which I have already blogged on earlier including sharing the slides and if you look at the slides you will find me in sync with you.

However, I only wonder as to why you did not complete the review of the Point Test and the new SOL at this time itself.  One shot announcement and all together would have saved all of us from unnecessary anxiety.

International Education as a pathway to Global settlement / Migration:

Over the last eight months there has been careless references to the ills of the current situation with Indian students in Melbourne being the “linkage between Migration and Education” and find in dismay that even the knowledgeable tend to ascribe it to be unique to Australia. This is a ridiculous understanding of the student mobility around the world.

Whenever this was stated, I have pointed out that this is not unique to Australia at all.
  • 95% of Indian students going to the USA, have had work/settlement in mind when they board the flight from India. This is regardless of what they tell the interviewing visa officers at the consulates. They know that after their degrees they would opt for OPT, then apply for H1B visas and follow that up with Green Cards. I would like to remind that a clear impact of reduction of H1B quota from 200,000 to 60,000 was felt in 2002 on the student numbers choosing USA. USA then increased the quota by 20,000 and reserved it for the International students post their studies in USA.
  • The growth of UK as a destination too has had the role played by post study work opportunities. In 2005, Scotland, in order to push student numbers offered 2 years of work to all graduating students and this was used as a way to seek further work permits or settlement. Other British regions felt the direct impact and wanted the same to extend to other regions and just last year UK changed the regulations and offered the POST STUDY WORK to all regions of UK.
  • NZ doesnot hide the fact that they view international students as a more apt migrant to the island nation. Today, a student WILL NOT get even the student visa if the course that he is attempting to study in NZ scores less points on the Migration point system. NZ only gives visas to students who have a way to get migration post study.
  • Canada too has clear pathways for migration for International students and the various regions within it have always had additional initiatives.
Hence, the presumption that Australia is unique in this and needs to delink the pathway for International students to PR is naïve and careless.

I feel that Australia continues to still offer a pathway even after the regulation changes and only the skills this time will not be cookery or hairdressing but be something else. International student numbers will increase in the areas that will aid this and hence I donot see much of a change overall. Yes, OZ may get more degree students and less vocational students. But, is this really the best for a country like Australia? I wonder. Maybe it should maintain a balance. It should still welcome some Chefs once it has agreed to a system of capping numbers.


Added On 10th Feb: One positive aspect of the new regulations is that the students in the system have been given time till December 2012 to acquire further skills and/or experience in order to be eligible. There is information on www.immi.gov.au including FAQs which should answer basic questions. My concern is for those who will enter the system now or who are planning their education at this time as they have no clue till the new SOL and the revised Point Test is announced on whether they are likely to be acceptable. Chefs and Hairdressers are certainly not the flavour of the season but will good Accountants be still required? The answers will take time. Have patience and try to sleep.
Disclaimer: I am not an Immigration expert by training and nor do I claim to be an expert based on my experience. I remain one with an academic interest in the topic. The proposed changes are on www.immi.gov.au and one should not base any decisions on the summarizations made by me. As stated, the full impact can only be known in a few months and at this time we are unfortunately in a “planned vacuum”.