Good Article regarding International Student and Australian Education

[kay_82]

Rules skew student choice
21 Oct 2009

The submissions from universities to the Bradley review presented a self-serving view of education. Their submissions painted the education and immigration nexus as though it were some insidious evil, but they love the fees students generate for their institutions.

The submissions to the review seem to have the objective of diverting students from the vocational education stream to the higher education stream but seem to have little to do with the needs of the nation.

Australia went through a recent period when the social worth of a skilled tradesman was considered less than the worth of a university graduate. That was a retrograde period in our society and we now find our school-leavers disinclined to take a trades program, believing it is somehow better to attend a university. This has created a deficiency in the skills base of this country.

The study-immigration route is a reasonable way for Australia to manage its immigration program and address the future skills needed by this country. We need a growing, educated, young and skilled workforce. The vocational education route is a smart way to produce a young and ambitious workforce.

We have a skilled occupation list, nominating occupations that are acceptable for migration to Australia. It may be imperfect but it does direct attention to the needs of the country.

The problem for vocational education is selecting the course or program of study that will deliver students and graduates into the appropriate occupation.

The higher education sector points to the concentration of vocational education students in cooking and hairdressing programs. Let the universities examine the concentration of students in their accounting and information technology programs. The concentrations come from identical causes.

I propose this simple test for those who criticise the bias in the courses studied in the vocational education scheme. Let the critics select a course of study that leads to an occupation on the skilled occupation list.

That sounds pretty simple.

Seek advice from the government authority established to assess the skills of graduates from the vocational education sector, Trades Recognition Australia. Simply ask that body what the TRA test or procedure is for assessing a course of study as suitable for a particular skilled occupation. Experience has shown that TRA simply does not know what its tests are. It has told me to me ask theTAFE sector; that is a clear evasion of its responsibility. TRA is expected to perform the skills assessment; it cannot delegate that to the TAFE colleges.

Try to figure out the relevant competency package requirements for a favourable skills assessment. Visit the National Training Information Service website. It is a highly difficult process to figure out what course a student who wishes to become an electrical tradesperson should study.

When all these questions have been asked and no reasonable answers found, ask why so many international students come to Australia to study as cooks or hairdressers. It is simply that to match any other occupation with an appropriate program of study is insurmountably difficult.

So overseas education agents who have a breathtaking source of potential skilled tradespeople - all willing and eager to undertake a course of study if that is what is required to migrate to Australia - are reduced to offering the students a course in commercial cookery or hairdressing because it is too difficult to figure out what else they can be offered.

Students seeking to migrate via the vocational education route are required to provide evidence of 900 hours of work experience relevant to their nominated occupation. When everyone is studying cooking or hairdressing, how can they get a part-time job in that occupation?

Ask TRA how to determine from what occupation on the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations a student should provide evidence of their 900 hours. TRA doesn't know. And it doesn't know how it would assess the work experience (or, if it does know, it intends to keep that a state secret).

Regulators have failed our nation and the needs of our booming economy and failed our international student market. If the regulators want to reduce the concentration of vocational education students in the few well publicised courses, then let them provide a way for education agents and migration agents to guide students to an appropriate course ofstudy and advise on appropriate work experience.

It is not that the agents are cheating; the incredibly complex system leaves them no way to find another appropriate course.

Ask the higher education sector where its international students are concentrated. The answer is simply accounting because that is easy for education agents to identify as qualifying their ambitious young clients for permanent residence in Australia. The university pot is calling the vocational education kettle black.

John Findley is an education counsellor and migration agent for schools, TAFE colleges anduniversities.

Source: The Australian

[Migration Help]

Thanks for the post kay_82.

[Robert K Chelliah]

Crime never pays, espcialy in the immigration arena. The rotten apples are being weeded out.

Robert K Chelliah


Woman arrested for fake documents and identity crime
Monday, 26 October 2009

This is a joint media release with the AFP, DIAC, Australian Crime Commission and Customs.

A 24-year-old Victorian woman has been charged for identity crime and migration fraud following a joint investigation involving the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

The woman is due to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court this morning.

The Identity Security Strike Team (ISST), a multi-agency taskforce comprising members of the AFP, DIAC, the Australian Crime Commission and Customs and Border Protection, commenced the investigation in October 2008.

AFP agents executed search warrants on Friday, 23 October 2009 at the woman’s residence in Carnegie where the woman was arrested and at a business premises with DIAC in the Melbourne CBD.

The AFP seized a number of items, including computers and client records.

It will be alleged that fake documents provided by the business are subsequently being used by international students to support applications for skilled migration to Australia.

The woman has been charged with offences against the Migration Act 1958, Criminal Code Act 1995 and Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) relating to the production and distribution of fake documents, and their use in skilled migration applications.

The maximum penalty for these offences is 10 years imprisonment and/or a $110,000 fine.

The ISST operates as part of a larger national ISST network with teams located in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth.

The ISST investigate serious and complex identity security matters forming a collaborative network among law enforcement agencies to effectively deal with this crime.

Media enquiries:
AFP Media (Canberra): (02) 6275 7100

[Sheelagh Blanckenberg]

Reading between the lines I reckon this lady is just one of the small-fry. Where are the big bosses, power brokers, masterminds and bankrollers of these schemes? I sincerely hope they do not wriggle out of the net!