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Smaller providers unhappy with new visa system
A simplification of the visa process may have benefitted some education providers but has created confusion and extra work for others. By Dallas Bastian
The introduction of streamlined visa processing has complicated the process, rather than simplifying it, an international education consultant claims.
Because international students often apply to multiple institutions, director of OCA Group Mark Pettitt says applicants are now required to undertake multiple tests when applying for a visa, which has resulted, he says, in a“ fair bit of confusion”.
He says it makes a lot of extra work for students and universities, and that it’ s no longer a transparent system for students.
“ Under the previous system, visa regulations were fairly well known and published by the visa office, so you could work out if you fit the criteria,” he says. Now that each institution has its own risk rating and doesn’ t publish its own requirements, it has added time and confusion.
There is also the risk that a student with many options may choose to go somewhere else because the system in Australia is seen as too difficult.
He says the system has also resulted in more work for universities without any additional revenue.“ The visa office still charges the same fee for processing the visa but they’ ve effectively outsourced the work and the risk to universities,” he says.
Applicants from those countries deemed high risk now go through at least two checks, Pettitt says.“ Students are still rejected... In theory you shouldn’ t get any rejections because the visa office is meant to accept what the university’ s already done. However, they’ re still doing their own checks.”
Students will revert to the old system if they do not comply with their visa conditions. Pettitt says this will result in“ huge reputational damage” for the university in question, particularly for the first institution to lose its status.
He says this could also affect the reputation of Australian education at large.“ I think it would create a perception that Australia’ s not a good place to study,” he says.
As an example, he points to London Metropolitan University, which lost its licence to accept international students, resulting in its students being put at risk of losing their visas.
Helen Zimmerman, International Education Association of Australia president, says while the new visa process has been complicated for universities and their partners, its introduction has sent a good message to prospective students.
“ University commencements are up and we know it’ s been well received in source countries, through the information we’ ve received,” she says.
Thomson Ch’ ng, president of the Council of International Students Australia, agrees it has been a positive step. He says it is less complicated and takes less time.
“ I guess an international student [ has to go through ] some level of processing,” he says.“ It’ s important those processes are straightforward.” He believes there should be as much detail included as possible. Pettitt agrees that the system works better for some institutions than for others.“ If you have a low-risk profile and you’ re charging high fees and you’ re hard to get into academically,” he says,“ you’ re much less likely to be applied to by students who are not going to get a visa or who are not going to comply with the visa requirements.”
He says that for lower-tier institutions that are struggling to get more international students and have a high-risk position, the process is more difficult.
Zimmerman says a methodology that is appropriate for smaller providers is needed. She says the process really only fits large providers because of the need for sampling of a large number of confirmations of enrolments that are tested against the criteria; as a result niche providers aren’ t getting the opportunity to be assessed as low-risk.
Pettitt says there wasn’ t anything inherently wrong with the previous system apart from the time it took to finish the processing. A better option is a single platform where students can complete their visa test, one which all institutions agree to be a part of. This could include a pre-test before applying. Each institution would still have its own risk setting.
An institution could accept an applicant, he says, and the visa office would then complete its checks within days, satisfied that all checks had been done. ■
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