Archive for the ‘Chris Evans’ Category
Australia-India Education Synergies
Key priorities in education and training were identified at the inaugural meeting of the Australia-India Education Council (AIEC) on August 2 in New Delhi. The meeting was co-chaired by Chris Evans, senator and Australia’s minister for tertiary education, skills and jobs; and Kapil Sibal, India’s minister for human resource development.
The ministers also launched a new bilateral Australia India Education links website as an information portal which provides information on the roles and responsibilities of Australian and Indian education bodies, and hosts key reports.
Source: Education Times (The Times of India), August 8, 2011
Australia keen on upgrading education ties with India
Australia and India are moving towards a collaborative framework in education, under which universities from both countries will award joint degrees, recognise each other’s qualifications and have mutual transfer of academic credits. At the same time, Australia is keen on leveraging its vast experience and expertise in vocational training to fill the huge gap in the availability of skilled personnel in India.
Australia’s Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, Christopher Evans, who visited the country in the past few days, mainly in connection with the first meeting of the Australia-India Education Council (AIEC), feels that his country’s engagement with India in the education sector is not just about Indian students studying in Australia but also about Australians pursuing part of their academic programme in Indian institutions.
“One of the barriers has been the lack of recognition of each other’s education and credit transfers. So, if someone comes from India and studies in Australia for six months, they may not get recognition for their Indian degree and vice-versa. We have identified this as a key thing we have to fix, because increasingly universities are interested in joint degrees,” Mr. Evans told The Hindu in an interview in Chennai.
“I am very keen on getting Australian students to study for about six months abroad, as it will open their eyes to the world. That is why, credit transfer is important. They will come if they know it counts for their degree, but not if their six months’ work is not credited,” he said. Citing the example of The Energy and Resources Institute of India (TERI), New Delhi, and Deakin University, Australia, establishing a BioNanotechnology Research Centre in Delhi, he said the two institutions had a successful joint programme, and more such partnerships were in the offing.
Skills transfer
Mr. Evans, who came with an academic and business delegation for the first AIEC meeting, said there was a lot of interest from the government and businesses in the field of vocational education. Leighton, an Australian infrastructure major, was running training programmes for Indian technicians in Delhi. “They are training Indians to [acquire] international and Australian qualifications for work, but don’t guarantee them a job. But the good thing is, it is a skills transfer involving industry — real skills valued by employers looking to meet international standards. That’s a great example of what we are doing in the vocational space.”
He did not see much scope for Australian universities to set up campuses in India, but felt that they would rather be looking for partnership models that would help Indian students get an international qualification. “A lot of Australian institutions provide qualification assessment, credit-rating and accreditation.”
A problem of scale
Mr. Evans did not see any great divergence in quality between the best Australian and Indian universities, but the problem in India was one of scale. It was a major challenge to meet the huge demand for skills and for education from such a large population. “Yours is a challenge of scale, not of quality; it is about spreading that quality across 500 million people who need to be trained.” On the importance Australia gave to education collaboration, he said: “We are very serious about making education one of the key pillars of our strategic partnership.”
Source: The Hindu, August 6, 2011
If Bill passed, foreign varsities can come next year, says Sibal
India’s Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday said if the Foreign Education Providers Bill was passed in the current session of Parliament, such providers could set up campuses from the next academic session.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of Australia-India Education Council in the national capital, where around 15 vice-chancellors from Australia, led by Senator Chris Evans and Premier of South Australia Mike Ran, interacted with 14 vice-chancellors of India. The council, set up following a 2008 decision, will now make such an interaction between vice-chancellors an annual event.
The two sides, which discussed issues like credit transfer and student mobility, also tried to explore the area of vocational training. “We are looking at vocational collaboration,” Evans said. “We are very strong in vocational training.” The HRD Ministry is already considering adding vocational training as part of curriculum in schools, and a draft is being prepared in this regard. Pilot projects are already on in Haryana.
Among other issues discussed were security of Indian students in Australia, fake universities indulging in profiteering and visa fraud.
Source: The Indian Express, August 2, 2011
Australia mulls easing student visa norms
Australia is considering relaxing its student visa norms after complaints that it does not process applications fast enough thereby causing international students, including from India and China, to go elsewhere, a media report said on Thursday. The federal government has bowed to pressure from the country’s tertiary institutions over international student visa criteria, The Age reported on its website. Critics say that the delay in processing student visas has hurt the international students market in the country.
Announcing a review of student visas Wednesday, Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans conceded that changes were necessary to prop up the ailing sector, worth A$ 4.5 billion to Victoria state each year. The most recent international student figures show a 1.4 per cent decline in enrolments since December last year — in stark comparison to the past eight years, in which the sector grew 11 per cent a year.
“The Australian international education sector has come under increasing pressure as a result of the rising value of the Australian dollar, the ongoing impact of the global financial crisis in some countries, and growing competition from the United States, New Zealand and Canada for international students,” Senator Evans said.
New measures to shore up student numbers include: Reducing assessment levels from April 2011, including the higher education visa assessment levels for applicants from China and India. Refining the rules to further enable pre-paid boarding fees to be counted towards cost-of-living requirements. Publishing statistics quarterly to allow the sector to track emerging student visa trends.
“Well over 20 percent of Monash University’s students on Australian campuses are international students, with China being the largest source country,” Monash vice-chancellor Ed Byrne said. “The downgrading in the assessment level will mean that not only are the financial requirements less onerous on Chinese families, but it signals that we have a good relationship with China in the delivery of higher education.”
Universities Australia Chairman Professor Peter Coaldrake welcomed the changes and said he hoped the review would “provide a fresh start to our approach to the international student market, which is now suffering after having made such tremendous gains in the past”.
Senator Evans said the review would consider ways to “better manage immigration risk” and recommend ways to improve partnerships between education providers and visa-processing arrangements. Headed by former NSW minister for the Sydney Olympics Michael Knight, the review is scheduled to report back to Senator Evans and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen by mid-2011.
Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), December 17, 2010
New Aus point system to weed out low quality overseas students
Australia is all set to announce its amended point system that would swap cookery and hair-dressing students with scientists, encouraging high skill professionals to settle down in the country. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen is scheduled to announce in Sydney tomorrow (November 11) the new points system that is aimed at toughening the rules of gaining permanent residency for overseas students with low quality qualifications, The Australian reported.
The new rules will encourage high skill workers and swap hair-dressing students with scientists. In China, Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans rejected any suggestion the Commonwealth should compensate education providers for lost income. “It’s not about us making up the shortfall. I mean, universities are a business,” he was quoted as saying. Some universities have gone into the international student market in a larger way than others.
“Amending its old system that allowed easy access to PR through enrolling into courses like hairdressing and hospitality, now graduates will have to fit within July’s new skilled occupation list, which gives prominence to high-skill jobs in health and engineering, and pass a strict new points test.
“The current weighting of points test factors leads to perverse outcomes such as the situation where a Harvard qualified environmental scientist with three years’ relevant work experience would fail the points test, while an overseas student who completes a 92-week course in a 60-point occupation (such as cookery or hairdressing) would, with one year’s experience, pass,” a discussion paper issued by Department of Immigration and Citizenship said. The test gave an advantage to low-skill occupations on the Migration Occupations in Demand List, which was axed in February by Senator Evans when he was immigration minister.
Monash University researcher Bob Birrell said a reformed points test would allow the government “to apply a more discriminating filter to select the best applicants”. This was possible because earlier decisions had slashed the number of points-tested places available while the number of former students seeking those places had risen sharply. The discussion paper said in these circumstances, “Australia can, and should, select the best and brightest migrants for independent migration”.
Senator Evans said universities understood the danger of becoming too reliant on one market. “I think most of them have managed that risk quite sensibly over the years,” he said adding “They know they’re vulnerable to such movements, as other industries are, and they’ll just have to manage that as they work through the issues.”
Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), November 10, 2010
Australia to curtail low-value education courses
In a major overhauling to its immigration policy, Australia has announced new preferred occupation skills list dropping occupations like hairdressing and cookery in favour of doctors, nurses and engineers to crackdown on people seeking permanent residency through low-value education courses. Immigration minister Chris Evans has announced a new skilled occupation list for Australia, with 200 fewer classifications and said that it will ensure Australia brings in workers it needs rather than having a policy dominated by people doing particular courses.The new move will put an end to people coming to Australia for short courses in some vocational subjects and then gaining permanent residency based on that training.
“What this will do is drive our independent skill migration programme so that we’re bringing in the people we need, not have people dominating our migration programme because of the course they study in Australia,” he said. He said previous lists have not looked at the long-term needs on which to base these decisions. “They’ve been dominated by various interests lobbying to be on the list,” he said adding, “This is an independent piece of work by Skills Australia. It’s focused on us developing a skills base and matching our education effort and this list will determine who can independently migrate to Australia.”
Evans said it is a fundamental economic reform based on scientific analysis. He said in the past the education system, rather than skills needs, drove migration outcomes. “This is about making sure the people who come in on the migration programme have the skills we need, have the English levels we need and can get a job in that skilled area,” he said. He said the list, developed by the independent body Skills Australia and containing 181 highly valued occupations, would ensure Australia’s skilled migration programme is demand-driven rather than supply-driven.
“We intend to fundamentally change the way we target skilled migrants to restore integrity to the skilled migration program,” Evans said. The new SOL is a critical reform in the Government’s overhaul of the skilled migration programme and closes the door on those seeking to manipulate the migration system. Only people with relevant qualifications in occupations listed on the SOL will be eligible for independent general skilled migration.
“Australia’s migration programme cannot be determined by the courses studied by international students,” Evans said. “This SOL represents a new direction which aims to ensure we choose migrants who have the skills to meet our nation’s economic needs. “The Rudd Government continues to value the very important contribution made by the international education sector and education providers that deliver high-quality courses to both Australian and overseas students will continue to prosper.
“International students who have the skills our economy needs will still be able to apply for permanent migration or be nominated by employers but we will no longer accept the thousands of cooks and hairdressers who applied under the guidelines established by the Howard government.”
Under the Howard government people who completed short courses in vocations such as cooking and hairdressing and had low English skills were almost assured of gaining permanent residence as a skilled migrant. In 2007-08, of the 41 000 general skilled visas granted, more than 5000 went to cooks and hairdressers; three quarters of them had formerly studied in Australia. These two occupations have been removed from the new SOL.
The Minister said he would recommend to the Governor-General in-Council amendments to the Migrations Regulations 1994 to give effect to this new framework. The new SOL is proposed to come into effect from July 1 to replace the old list which contained more than 400 occupations. It will be updated annually.
Evans said Skills Australia received advice from industry skills councils, industry peak bodies and Professions Australia to ensure the SOL contained occupations Australia needs in the medium to long term. “The Government has increased English language requirements for trade applicants and introduced a new job ready programme for onshore trade applicants. There is now increased priority for employer sponsored migrants and this will ensure industry is able to quickly access the skilled workers it needs,’ he said.
During the past 18 months, the Government has driven a reform agenda, aimed at shifting the supply-driven skilled migration system we inherited to a demand-driven one. “First and foremost, young Australians should be trained and given the opportunity to fill existing job vacancies. The Government has a national plan to ensure young people are skilled in the occupations where there is the greatest need,” Senator Evans said.
Chairman of the Government’s National Resources Sector Employment Taskforce, Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia Gary Gray, welcomed the new SOL and said it would address the needs of the resources sector. “The taskforce has met with resource sector employers across the country and the clear message is that we need a targeted approach to migration,” Gray said. The government recognises the proposed changes would affect some overseas students currently in Australia intending to apply for permanent residence.
The introduction of the new SOL does not change the concessions announced in February which provide generous transition arrangements for former and current international students seeking a visa under the General Skilled Migration (GSM) programme. People who have already applied for a GSM visa would not be affected by the implementation of the new SOL. The changes would in no way affect international students coming to Australia to gain a qualification and then return home.
Source: NDTV
Australia to curtail low-value education courses
In a major overhauling to its immigration policy, Australia has announced new preferred occupation skills list dropping occupations like hairdressing and cookery in favour of doctors, nurses and engineers to crackdown on people seeking permanent residency through low-value education courses. Immigration minister Chris Evans has announced a new skilled occupation list for Australia, with 200 fewer classifications and said that it will ensure Australia brings in workers it needs rather than having a policy dominated by people doing particular courses.The new move will put an end to people coming to Australia for short courses in some vocational subjects and then gaining permanent residency based on that training.
“What this will do is drive our independent skill migration programme so that we’re bringing in the people we need, not have people dominating our migration programme because of the course they study in Australia,” he said. He said previous lists have not looked at the long-term needs on which to base these decisions. “They’ve been dominated by various interests lobbying to be on the list,” he said adding, “This is an independent piece of work by Skills Australia. It’s focused on us developing a skills base and matching our education effort and this list will determine who can independently migrate to Australia.”
Evans said it is a fundamental economic reform based on scientific analysis. He said in the past the education system, rather than skills needs, drove migration outcomes. “This is about making sure the people who come in on the migration programme have the skills we need, have the English levels we need and can get a job in that skilled area,” he said. He said the list, developed by the independent body Skills Australia and containing 181 highly valued occupations, would ensure Australia’s skilled migration programme is demand-driven rather than supply-driven.
“We intend to fundamentally change the way we target skilled migrants to restore integrity to the skilled migration program,” Evans said. The new SOL is a critical reform in the Government’s overhaul of the skilled migration programme and closes the door on those seeking to manipulate the migration system. Only people with relevant qualifications in occupations listed on the SOL will be eligible for independent general skilled migration.
“Australia’s migration programme cannot be determined by the courses studied by international students,” Evans said. “This SOL represents a new direction which aims to ensure we choose migrants who have the skills to meet our nation’s economic needs. “The Rudd Government continues to value the very important contribution made by the international education sector and education providers that deliver high-quality courses to both Australian and overseas students will continue to prosper.
“International students who have the skills our economy needs will still be able to apply for permanent migration or be nominated by employers but we will no longer accept the thousands of cooks and hairdressers who applied under the guidelines established by the Howard government.”
Under the Howard government people who completed short courses in vocations such as cooking and hairdressing and had low English skills were almost assured of gaining permanent residence as a skilled migrant. In 2007-08, of the 41 000 general skilled visas granted, more than 5000 went to cooks and hairdressers; three quarters of them had formerly studied in Australia. These two occupations have been removed from the new SOL.
The Minister said he would recommend to the Governor-General in-Council amendments to the Migrations Regulations 1994 to give effect to this new framework. The new SOL is proposed to come into effect from July 1 to replace the old list which contained more than 400 occupations. It will be updated annually.
Evans said Skills Australia received advice from industry skills councils, industry peak bodies and Professions Australia to ensure the SOL contained occupations Australia needs in the medium to long term. “The Government has increased English language requirements for trade applicants and introduced a new job ready programme for onshore trade applicants. There is now increased priority for employer sponsored migrants and this will ensure industry is able to quickly access the skilled workers it needs,’ he said.
During the past 18 months, the Government has driven a reform agenda, aimed at shifting the supply-driven skilled migration system we inherited to a demand-driven one. “First and foremost, young Australians should be trained and given the opportunity to fill existing job vacancies. The Government has a national plan to ensure young people are skilled in the occupations where there is the greatest need,” Senator Evans said.
Chairman of the Government’s National Resources Sector Employment Taskforce, Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia Gary Gray, welcomed the new SOL and said it would address the needs of the resources sector. “The taskforce has met with resource sector employers across the country and the clear message is that we need a targeted approach to migration,” Gray said. The government recognises the proposed changes would affect some overseas students currently in Australia intending to apply for permanent residence.
The introduction of the new SOL does not change the concessions announced in February which provide generous transition arrangements for former and current international students seeking a visa under the General Skilled Migration (GSM) programme. People who have already applied for a GSM visa would not be affected by the implementation of the new SOL. The changes would in no way affect international students coming to Australia to gain a qualification and then return home.
Source: NDTV
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