Author Archives: aesadmin

Will China’s currency devaluation affect student migration to Australia?

Some say the biggest devaluation of the Chinese currency in 21 years which wiped billions from stock markets came as a surprise and could severely affect the AU$18.1 billion education industry in Australia.

Maryland University finance professor Albert Kyle told The Australian that the devaluation will result in a slowing down of the interest of Chinese businesses and investors in Australian goods and services. This could include Chinese demand for education in Australia, as well as demand for property in Sydney and Melbourne, according to the report in The Australian.

“I think it is going to affect my business and also a big business in Australia, which is educating Chinese students…So that is an export market that will probably shrink since the parents of the children have less discretionary money to afford these relatively expensive degrees and that is why the Australian currency will depreciate along with the Chinese currency,” he said.

However, other analysts disagree and say that the devaluation will have a limited long-term impact on Australia’s education sector.  HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham told The Australian that the bank didn’t think the currency would fall much further and Australia’s higher education sector would continue to benefit from China’s rising middle class.

“That’s a medium-term structural trend — it doesn’t really get thrown off by what we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks or even the short-term cyclical weakness we’re seeing in China,” Mr Bloxham said.

“Middle-class incomes are ­rising. They’re travelling abroad in big numbers and there are ­increasing numbers of people from China looking to get education offshore.” Mr Bloxham said the devaluation of the yuan, also known as the renminbi, was “relatively small” and China’s currency had strengthened substantially since 2008.

Figures compiled by Ernst & Young and McKinsey show the middle class across Asia and the Pacific is expected to increase from 500 million to more than three billion by 2030.

There were more than 150,000 Chinese students studying in Australia in 2013, the latest year for which figures are available, more than three times the number of enrolments from the second highest country of origin, according to the report.

International students contributed a record $18.1 billion in the 12 months ending in June, 14.2 per cent higher than the previous corresponding period.

Source: Migration Alliance

Foreign workers needed to fill trades jobs as local apprentices dropout rate rises

The role of the sc457 visa in filling the gap in trades jobs has been highlighted by NSW Skills Minister John Barilaro as half the nation’s young apprentices drop out of their training. Mr Barilaro told The Australian that the crisis is likely to deepen with the average age of a tradesperson now being 40; a looming shortage of plumbers, electricians and builders; and the unwillingness of school-leavers to pursue trade skills.

“We’re paying the price of two or three decades of telling kids that trade jobs won’t get you a great lifestyle or income,’’ he said. “Parents are encouraging kids to go to uni instead.

“But for most tradies, they end up as entrepreneurs, running their own business.’’

According to The Australian, Mr Barilaro himself worked as a carpenter in the family business before entering politics.

“A lot of tradies have got flash utes and cars. Because of the skills shortage, the rates of pay have ­increased,’’ he said.

He noted that despite industry’s demand for skilled trades workers, nearly half the young Australians who start an apprenticeship drop out within four years. According to data from the National Centre for Vocational Education ­Research around 50% of all upper-secondary students enrol in vocational programs. However it showed 56 per cent of ­apprentices who began training in 2010 had finished working in their trade four years later.

“Only one in three apprentices in construction trades, hairdressing or the food industry completed their apprenticeships, while one-third of construction workers and 15 per cent of hairdressers pulled out of an apprenticeship within the first year.”

Master Builders chief executive Wilhelm Harnisch told The Australian that the trend was “disturbing’’, as the construction industry would need 300,000 extra trades workers over the next decade. “Training an apprentice is very expensive,’’ he said. “It’s mainly undertaken by small to medium-sized businesses, and when conditions become tough their willingness to take on an apprentice is reduced.’’

Source: Migration Alliance

No more visa labels for Australian visa holders

Here’s another reason to ensure your smartphone is properly charged-up before travelling to Australia. Labels for Australian visas won’t be issued from September 1. It’s a move designed to streamline visa processing and encourage digital service use, says the department of immigration.

Your passport or ImmiCard number will be the basis of identification and to determine if you hold a valid visa to enter or remain in Australia. DIBP announced that from 1 September 2015 visa holders will no longer be able to request and pay for a visa label. Visa holders can access their visa record through the free Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) service or the myVEVO mobile.

The DIBP advised that the visa grant letter should be retained and carried by visa holders as the information contained within the letter ‘will help check your visa status online’. Clearly the online status information will prevail. Last year, Vietnamese student Minh Duong was refused entry into Australia despite claiming to have a valid grant letter. DIBPs systems indicated that his visa had expired. Minh Doung was refused entry and had to return to Vietnam to make another visa application to continue his studies in Australia.

The DIBP insists that, “The practice of obtaining visa labels often resulted in unnecessary expenses, delays and inconvenience for clients and stakeholders. Offering these services digitally is an efficient, economical and sustainable solution.”

The department’s statement said that electronic management of visa records is expected to provide real-time visa information to registered organisations and other appropriate stakeholders as well as visa holders themselves through the free Visa Entitlement Verification Online service or the myVEVO mobile app.  Airline staff use the Advance Passenger Processing system to confirm that a passenger has a valid Australian visa.

Visa holders can also provide evidence that they have the authority to enter and remain in Australia by simply showing their passport or ImmiCard linked to their electronic visa record.

Source: Migration Alliance

Universities under fire as Chinese students fail and the desperate ones resort to cheating

Masters degree students at the University of Sydney’s prestigious business school may have to undergo a compulsory English language course after the university revealed that more than 400 students, mainly from China, failed core units of their masters’ degree.  About 37 per cent of the 1,200 students studying the Critical Thinking in Business course were given a fail grade after the first semester, and about 12 per cent of students in the Succeeding in Business course also failed, according to a report on the ABC.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has weighed into the stoush between the university and the group of students who complained that the university did not prepare them properly for the course.  NTEU president Jeanie Rae said universities should resist pressure to pass under-performing students, but in this case their treatment seemed unfair.

“I think the university needs to be much more honest about it, to me holding an exam at the end of a course and then wiping the students off after they’ve already paid their money to me seems quite cynical…If the students needed greater language skills, why were these students let in and given places if there were real doubts about their capacity to successfully complete?” she said.

University of Sydney Business School Deputy Dean (Education), Professor John Shields, however said English was not the only reason some Chinese students struggled with the course.

“We do have a large number of students coming to us from bachelor degrees undertaken elsewhere, including in mainland China, where the dominant mode of learning is what we would describe as passive learning rather than critical thinking and engaged learning,” he said.

“What we’ve been seeking to do is transition students coming into our programs from that very different learning system or education values system to … the critical thinking approach. We have put in place quite systematic and comprehensive additional support for students that we identify as being at risk,” he said.

It was revealed in other media reports that at least 70 students face expulsion after being found guilty of paying the company MyMaster for writing their assignments. A University of Sydney report said that at least 16 universities have been caught in the plagiarism scandal. Yingying Dou is alleged to have charged some 1000 students at least $1000 per assignment. The website has reportedly been shut down as the universities continue with their investigations.

Source: Migration Alliance

Melbourne ranked the world’s most liveable city for the 5th time in a row

It’s done it again, and now achieving a near perfect score in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) liveability survey of 140 cities.  Just 2.5 points off perfection, the city of Melbourne despite its unpredictable weather, has topped the EIU’s list beating the likes of Vienna, Vancouver and Toronto.

Adelaide came in fifth with a score of 96.6. Seven of the top 10 scoring cities were in Australia and Canada. Sydney came in seventh place behind Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with 96.1. It lost out to Adelaide and Melbourne due to its lower score for culture and environment, and stability.  Perth was ranked ninth with 95.9, and Auckland, New Zealand, rounded out the top 10 with 95.7. Helsinki, Finland, took eighth place.

“Those that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density,” the EIU report said adding that, “These can foster a range of recreational activities without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said his government plans to maintain Melbourne’s top spot pointing to the promised investment of some 25.4 billion into the Melbourne economy to particularly improve transport infrastructure. “Melbourne has the best of everything and this title proves it…Perfect scores in health care, education and infrastructure, culture, environment and sport are all proof there’s no place like Victoria,” he said.

At the tail end of the list were cities facing civil unrest and terror threats, namely Tripoli in Libya,  Lagos in Nigeria, Port Moresby in PNG, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Damascus in Syria – which was rated the worst city in the world to live with a score of 30.6.

Source: Migration Alliance

ATO Data Matching – Visa Holders, Sponsors & Migration Agents

The Commissioner for Taxation has gazetted a Notice of a Data Matching Program for visa holders. Gazette Notice of Data Matching Program – Immigration Visa Holders Gazette – C2015G01255  will allow the ATO to acquire the names, addresses and other details of visa holders, their sponsors and their migration agents for the 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years from the Department.

Information will be collected from an estimated 1 million visa holders and include:

• Address history for visa applicants and sponsors
• Contact history for visa applicants and sponsors
• All visa grants
• Visa grant status by point in time
• Migration agents (visa application preparer who assisted or facilitated the processing of the visa)
• Address history for migration agents
• Contact history for migration agents
• All international travel movements undertaken by visa holders (arrivals and departures)
• Sponsor details (457 visa)
• Education providers (educational institution where the student visa holder intends to undertake their study)
• Visa subclass name.

This information will used to improve the integrity of visa program and compliance overall, reduce immigration fraud and assist in developing strategies to address effective operation and compliance.

https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Gen/Data-matching-protocols/

Source: MIA & ATO

New Application Fees for Australia Passports commencing on 1 October 2015

The application costs vary according to various criteria, including:

• adult, child, age (over 75)
• length of validity
• regular or frequent traveller version
• priority and emergency processing requirement

Please refer to the Australian Passport Office for details:

www.passports.gov.au/

Source: MIA

Vietnam and Nepal: New addresses for providing personal identifiers

Nepal

The changed addresses for the Australian visa application centre is:

Kathmandu

Australian Visa Application Centre

Ananda Shreei Niwas

Ward No.3, Sankha Marg – 113

Maharajganj, Kathmandu

Nepal

Vietnam

Two new offices have been opened in Vietnam of the Australian Visa Application Centre:

Hanoi

Australian Visa Application Centre

Vinafor Building, 1st Floor

127 Lo Duc Street

Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi

Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City

Australian Visa Application Centre

Resco Tower, 2nd Floor

94-96 Nguyen Du Street

District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Source: MIA & DIBP

Melbourne private high school has been shut down

The school which generated about $1million in revenue per year from students was found to have had extensive breaches of regulations governing overseas students, according to a report on the ABC.

It remains unclear what will happen to the visas of 70 students of the school – some who reportedly paid $18,600 per year in tuition fees.

According to the ABC, documents filed with Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), indicated the failure of some students to sign in for classes for weeks at a time was not investigated by the school, despite visa requirements that stipulate they must sign in twice a day. It said that the teaching of English language was also a particular concern, with audits from 2010 to 2014 revealing the school failing to comply with VCAA standards.

The Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) ordered the Melbourne Senior Secondary College (MSSC) to shut down because it failed to comply with a number of matters in the Education Services for Overseas Students Act which included the following:

• Inadequate records on working with children checks for adults overseeing, living with up to 14 students under 18

• “Disturbing finding” that teachers were pressured to inflate grades

• “Serious concerns” about the academic standards and quality of education

• Unsatisfactory attendance records despite the need for data to comply with visa requirements

The school is appealing the closure order at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). The school’s principal, Jian Wang, did not respond to email and phone messages from the ABC.

“But in his submission to the VRQA, Mr Wang countered that in the 11 years his school had been operating, 500 students had passed their VCE and the school had contributed $18 million to the Victorian economy,” notes the ABC.

Mr Wang apparently received an award from the City of Melbourne in 2010 for his contribution to small business.

Source: Migration Alliance