in focus 8 February 2010

Immigration changes to impact international education industry

Since its election, the Government has made no secret of its desire to overhaul key aspects of Australia’s immigration system, including the independent stream of the General Skilled Migration Program (GSM). Over the past 18 months, ACPET has successfully fought for reasonable transition arrangements that allow our international education to adjust. A key plank in this campaign was the release of our landmark report on the Value of International Education to the Australian Economy, developed in partnership with Access Economics.

Unfortunately, much of the success of this campaign has been eroded by the impacts of a failure to properly regulate a small part of the international education industry and the reputational damage arising from coverage of violent attacks on international students.
ACPET advice to government and members has been consistent during this time. For members we have made it clear that overreliance on migration related courses and students from a narrow range of source markets would become an increasingly risky strategy. For Government we have argued that businesses who had previously responded to government policy must be allowed adequate time to adjust their operations to suit a changing policy environment.

Today the Minister for Immigration will deliver a speech that sets out the key changes arising from a review of general skilled migration and we hope that future policy settings will be made clear and that there will be certainty for members and their students. A key aspect of the announcements will be the relationship between labour market needs and the GSM program. As soon as information is available we will write to all members with an outline of the new policy arrangements and their implications.

Many of our members are already struggling under the burden of the reduced demand from key markets and in the coming weeks ACPET will announce a number of major market development initiatives that aim to assist members to recover their position and to restore confidence in the market.

These initiatives will be coupled with the next wave of reform to our own operations that will strengthen the quality of our membership. During 2009, the introduction of a new Constitution, establishment of TAS risk management arrangements and the cancellation of members who did not meet ACPET requirements set the platform for further reform. ACPET has acted decisively on the issue of quality and in 2010 we will continue to take action in the interests of those members with a genuine commitment to the delivery of quality education and training outcomes for students.  

Please do not hesitate to contact me (click to email Andrew Smith) to discuss any of the above or to provide your ideas and input into the ongoing development of the Council.

Andrew Smith
Chief Executive Officer
8 February 2010