Australia

Australia's growth story for 2014 rolls on as a monthly enrolment and commencement report shows a 10% increase in full-fee paying international students on May last year. Notably, the VET sector saw a year to date 13% increase in commencements after a 5.9% increase in enrolments. This is good news after 2013 results showed continued attrition.

The Australian government has recently held training days for Brazilian education agents in order to ensure they are up to date on Australia's education sector, national branding and visa procedures. Workshops were held in the country's southern region in Curitiba and Florianopolis.

Global education provider Navitas is set to acquire California-based creative media college Ex’pression for US$13 million. The deal will be completed through the company’s media education subsidiary, SAE Institute Group. With campuses near San Francisco and San Jose, the move will double SAE’s locations in the state.

Australia's higher education sector was responsible for almost 70% of its total international education exports in 2013, data released by the Ministry of Education has shown. International education activity contributed $15 billion to Australia's economy in 2013, up 3.8% on the previous year's $14.5 billion.

Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection has recently announced that it will accept Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) and TOEFL iBT scores for a number of work visas from November 2014, including sub-classes relating to Temporary Graduates and Work and Holiday visa holders.

Following its strong start to 2014 for international education, the Australian government has announced plans to extend Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP) to students applying to enrol in Advanced Diploma level courses at low immigration risk providers.

Australia’s Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey announced last week “once-in-a-generation” reforms to the university funding system that will cut the commonwealth’s contribution toward course fees by on average 20%, saving the country AUS$1.9 billion, and fully deregulating student fees from January 2016.

The 31st IALC workshop held in Brisbane was held in Australia for the first time this year, offering great diversity of agency attendee, a great insight into Australia's offer for students and a topical seminar discussion around online booking and the commoditisation of the industry.

The University of Melbourne and Tsinghua University have partnered to develop a cloud-based 'virtual campus' that will enable joint course delivery and research collaboration. This is the latest agreement in a longstanding relationship between the two universities.

Australia's peak body for English language colleges, English Australia, has created a series of professional development courses focussed on online learning in collaboration with International Education Services in a bid to increase the number of Massive Open Online English Courses (MOOEC) offered by its members.

On a trade mission to Asia this week, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott rolled out the government's outbound mobility programme, the New Colombo Plan, to Japan as part of a four nation pilot scheme. Japan and Australia also signed a landmark free trade agreement that will strengthen bilateral economic ties.

International education providers have voiced their consternation after the Department of Immigration and Border Protection signed off on a review into the effectiveness of the Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) criteria - which has raised concerns in the sector since 2012 - without any industry consultation.

Australia has eased visa requirements for students from 'high risk' countries including China, India and Pakistan, reducing the evidence requirements of English language proficiency, financial capacity and previous study.

This week the Australian government will attempt to slash a number of federal laws in its first planned "repeal day" that will save AUD$1 billion a year in red tape. A number of "heavy handed" regulations affecting the university sector are set to be abolished in the process, a move that has been welcomed by international educators in the country.

The Government of Queensland in Australia has launched a public consultation to help "revitalise" its international education and training sector. International student scholarships and a raft of offshore visits are among suggestions to boost international education exports.