Población migrante en situación irregular

5.11.1 Policy Analysis

Table 5.8 gives a comparison of the student visa requirements and the overall educational costs that international students face when considering study abroad. Table 5.8: Student visa comparisons by country

Visa Processing time

Visa Cost Cost of Education & Living Cost

Employment opportunities

Migration Opportunities Australia 3 months $553 AUD $4-7,000/mth 20 hours/wk Yes

USA 4 days $414

AUD24F

25 Yes

UK 5 days $160 AUD1 _Yes

Japan 3 months25F 26 _{$14000USD/mth} 26F 27 _{Nil Yes} Canada 7 weeks $217 AUD27F 28 Yes Singapore 2 Months28F 29 _{Nil $24000 AUD/yr} 29F 30 _{Up to 16} hr/wk No

Malaysia 5 days Nil $1000/mth Yes

Source: Information found on Immigration Department websites for the mentioned countries. See also footnotes

The International Education Policy documents of the seven countries studied and listed above have similar themes. The prime concern of each country is to provide the best quality education available and thus strengthen its reputation as an educational provider. The major suppliers of educational services recognise the value of partnerships, in particular with China and India, who supply the most international students. The USA has special interests in the two American continents with favoured agreements with Spain and Mexico. The UK is a favoured destination for students from the former British Commonwealth, and is also the most popular choice for learning English and for international students of school age.

25 _{Approximate values after currency conversion}

26 _{Study in Japan, (2015): http://www.studyjapan.go.jp/en/toj/toj04e.html - no03}

27 _{Study in Japan, (2015), living cost (includes academic fees) much more expensive than Australia.}

Cost quoted is the average cost per student throughout Japan. Tokyo is far more expensive at $16,500 USD/month.

28 _{Approximate values after currency conversion}

5.11.2 Discussion

Many countries recruit international students to bolster their own domestic higher education system. China is at present the largest supplier of international students, although other countries, such as India and Brazil, are sending increasing numbers abroad. Educational policies in various countries do affect their ability to attract international students. Australia has commissioned reviews on export education by Knight (2009), Baird (2010) and Chaney (2012), but despite their recommendations there have been no real policy changes to address the critical issues of quality of education and visa processing time. In April 2015, the DNSIE was issued to allow stakeholders in the international education industry to comment and make submissions to the Australian Government. This could yet prove decisive, but other Australian Government initiatives, such as reducing funding to universities, run counter to DNSIE’s stated aims. In particular, whilst the UK and the USA have been able to deliver students visas in less than a week, Australia still takes up to 3 months (for Chinese students), and the number of Australian universities ranked in the top 100 on the two major ranking sites, fell from six in 2013 to five in 2014.

Currently Australia’s position with regards to the intake of foreign students is improving, with international student enrolments rising by 17.4% in 2014 over 2013 admissions. This compares favourably with an average yearly increase of 6.1% over the past ten years (see Table 5.5). However, the flow of international students is volatile. In 2010, foreign student numbers studying in Australia fell considerably, although the number of foreign students in our major competing countries rose at the same time. Difficulties in visa processing applications along with costs associated with Australia’s high currency rate were recognised as contributing factors. In the same period, 2010, perceived racism towards Indian students studying in Melbourne decimated the Indian students market (see Chapter Two). The number of Indian students has not yet returned to the levels experienced prior to this incident.

proactive and have systems in place that can deal with these situations before they escalate. One of the recommendations of the Chaney Report was a

“critical need to establish a new high level Ministerial Coordinating Council on International Education (MCCIE) to be in place for the next five years. ... with expertise in matters relating to international education, science and research from across the sector, business and industry” (Chaney, 2013, p. 39).

Chaney’s (2013) proposal has not yet occurred, nor have many of the recommendations of the Knight Report (2011) and the Baird Report (2011). Whilst the Australian Government values the international student trade and is investigating ways to enhance and increase international students’ education, it remains reluctant to follow up on recommendations of reports that it has commissioned. One area of concern is the cost of student fees, which is a significant driver of students’ choice when considering a study abroad destination (Chaney, 2013, p. 26). Australia’s share of international students fell when prices were high, but increased markedly as the value of the AUD fell. Notwithstanding cost recommendations, Australia’s Federal Budget proposal (Abbott, 2014), if ratified, will significantly increase the fees for international students and jeopardise the ability of the Australian HEI’s to recruit these students.

Visa processing is another unresolved problem identified by Knight (2011), Baird (2011), & Chaney (2013). In Asian culture, ‘the buyer is king’, and the major buyer is the ‘emperor’. Australia has ignored this concept by treating Chinese secondary students as second-class citizens, designating them a category 3, (the lowest grading and status), when determining their visas status. Treating Chinese secondary students as category 3 is unreasonable because Chinese students have been the most prolific international students in Australia for many years, with little evidence of visa breaches. Compounding this discrimination is the fact that other Asian countries, like Japan and Singapore, who send very few students to Australia in comparison, are given favoured category 1 classification when it comes to visa processing. Competitor countries, notably the UK and the USA, are able to grant student visas to Chinese students in less than one week.

5.12 CONCLUSION

This chapter has shown that educational and visa policies do influence the rate of international student flow to a country. This is particularly true for Japan where unfriendly policies and practices have led to a steady reduction in international student numbers. Contrastingly, concerted efforts recently by Canada to create policies designed to attract international students are having effect, with increasing numbers of international students.

Australia has recognised the benefit from creating policies that will entice international students and has already commenced implementing some of them. Other policies relating to student visas and work restrictions for students are damaging Australia’s ability to attract students.

A different set of policies relating to immigration, capital investment and wealth protection were also investigated in the chapter. The findings in this chapter show that Australia is an ideal destination for corrupt HNWIs from China seeking to immigrate to Australia. Immigration, through the channel of students’ study visas, could explain why Australia hosts a disproportionate number of Chinese international students. None of the other themes, which constitute the contributory questions, gives Australia a significant advantage over any of its competitors. The next chapter explains the processes and findings of the focus group interviews. These findings created the original directions of this research project.

The situation in Australia is very similar to that in the USA where Ortiz, et al., (2015), contend that “for every seven international students enrolled, three US jobs are created or supported”. Ortiz’s research shows that the number of student enrolments has been declining in the UK since 2012, because of visa problems. Meanwhile Australia has rebounded in international student enrolments after a significant decline starting in 2010. In the same period both the USA and UK have shown a steady growth.

CHAPTER SIX