New national plan to help international students

By Eddie Bonsu

The Australian Government has launched a draft national strategy on international education focussing on internships and employment opportunities for international students.

Assistant Director of Strategic Policy in the Department of Education, Tom O’Brien, says the plan has been developed in response to claims of exploitation and hardships faced by international students.

“Employability is absolutely crucial to the success of education in this day and age,” said Mr O’Brien. “With this strategy, we are looking at how we can support education institutions, employers including small and medium enterprises as well as large businesses to work more closely together to increase the opportunity for international students to gain meaningful work experience and that is something over the next 12 months will be our main focus.”

Director of UC International Glenys London says the government should do more to help students.

“By linking up with the institutions and businesses, the government can help open up employment opportunities for international students in their various field of studies,” Ms London said. “The universities can also do their part by building degree structures that have internship imbedded in the degree, then it is up to the student to select the subject to get it.”

International education is the third largest export earner generating $20B in 2015 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In addition, it makes a big contribution to Australian society, culture, international standing, economic prosperity and it provides opportunities for people to experience different countries, languages and cultures.

There are 600,000 international students studying in Australia. They come from all over the world, but the majority are from Asia and the rest from the other parts of the world.

On average studying in Australia costs a single student $40,000 annually according to the Department of Immigration and Border Control website. This can be a heavy burden for students coming from developing countries.

The Government intends to implement the strategy in consultation with businesses to give international students the opportunity to gain meaningful employment.

International students are calling on the government to make internships and employability their main focus.

Eddie Bonsu has the details.