'Fundamental misconceptions' must be addressed, says group
International students have commended Australia’s move to allow them to stay longer in the country, enabling them to obtain graduate roles that could consequently attract more students to Australian universities, SBS News reported.
According to the new rules proposed at the recently held Jobs and Skills Summit, select bachelor’s degree holders will now be able to work for four years after graduating, up from two.
Additionally, master’s students will be able to work for five years, from the initial three, and doctorate students to six years, up from four, the news outlet reported.
While the government will still announce October the degrees included, a spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil told SBS News that nursing, engineering, and IT students will be top priority areas.
“They’re the graduates that the government believes Australia needs, and they can go straight into a sector where there is a shortage of high-skilled workers,” the spokesperson said. Australia needs to better use the amazing resource of international students.”
‘Win’ for international students
Janageeth Logeswaran from Sri Lanka, a student from Flinders University in Adelaide set to graduate in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science major in artificial intelligence, told SBS News that allowing international students to work longer after they graduate was “great news,” for everyone.
While Logeswaran knows how challenging it is for students to get permanent residency in Australia after graduation, he hopes that the new rules will make the circumstance more manageable.
Meanwhile, Yeganeh Soltanpour from Iran and the United Arab Emirates, studying a master’s degree at the University of Adelaide, said the new policies would allow graduates to become competitive in Australia’s job market.
“Finding graduate roles has become more difficult than ever because as soon as employers realise we’re international students, they almost always see us as temporary and don’t want to spend resources training a candidate they don’t know is going to be able to stay or not,” Soltanpour told SBS News.
“Easing these rules allows students to get a chance to get their foot in the door for an interview,” she added.
Soltanpour further said that the latest change is like hitting two birds with one stone, as it would also generally help the nation’s economy.
“It’s a benefit to not just the students, but the Australian economy — bringing a diverse set of cultures and skills into their workforce can only ever be an opportunity for growth,” Soltanpour said.
Development of new rules
According to O’Neil, a working group will be established to advise the ministers for home affairs and education on the progress of the new rules and other significant issues.
The group, composed of representatives from the Council of International Education, National Tertiary Education Union, Universities Australia, Departments of Home Affairs and Education, is said to report to the ministers on 28 October.
Reports have also said that while the National President of Council of International Students Australia (CISA), Oscar Zi Shao Ong, welcomed the extensions provided for international students, he said that several “fundamental misconceptions” about international students should also be addressed.
“International students have always found it tough to find jobs due to misconceptions about their working rights and the perception they are not staying in Australia for longer than two years,” he said, according to SBS News.
“The fact that international students have been filling skills shortages in Australia [during COVID] and also the immense value they provide Australia, not just economic but social, needs to be admitted,” he added.
Aside from the extension given to international students after they graduate, reports have said that the federal government is also expanding the relaxation on the number of hours students and training visa holders can work until 30 June 2023, with stakeholders advising on the limit.
