Universities in Australia have welcomed the timely decision by the countrys federal government to review its student-visa system in light of the recent collapse in demand from overseas students. Ministers announced the review in late December alongside an immediate package of measures designed to ease restrictions that have been partly blamed for the decline in applications from key markets such as India and China.Although other factors such as the global recession, the strong Australian dollar and the fallout from attacks on Indian students have also hit enrolments, the government has come under pressure to change its visa policy. One particular criticism has revolved around a sudden increase in the amount of money students must find to support their visa applications. The sums required had not changed for several years before a rise of 50 percent was implemented recently.
Concerns have also been expressed that the Australian government is giving overseas students the impression that it isnt open for business, resulting in students heading for competitor countries such as the US, Canada and the UK. Peter Coaldrake, chair of Universities Australia and vice chancellor of Queensland University of Technology, says the latest figures on international enrolment in Australia show a clear decline after year-on-year increases of 11 percent for the past eight years. This review must show that Australia is serious about improving its procedures and correcting the negative perception that has arisen. This will send a strong positive signal to source countries and prospective overseas students, he says.
The immediate package of measures announced by the government includes a lowering of assessment levels required for student visa applications made by people from 38 countries, including India and China, from April 2011. Ross Milbourne, chair of the Australian Technology Network of Universities and vice chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney, is particularly pleased to see the change in assessment levels, which dictate the evidence required by students to support visa applications.
He says that research commissioned by his network — whose members educate one in four of the international students currently studying in Australia — shows that there are anomalies among the requirements for different nationalities. The level of financial proof demanded of Chinese and Indians are more onerous than for their Singaporean and Malaysian peers.
Meanwhile, the state government of South Australia has revealed that it is in talks with the US private provider Laureate International Universities about setting up a new institution in the region, with an announcement possible soon. Laureate, which has built a large network of universities worldwide often by taking control of existing institutions, currently operates two leisure management schools on the east coast of Australia.

(Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)