Australia

Despite the great expectations surrounding visa reforms introduced in September, Australia still has a way to go before it halts its recruitment downslide, after latest figures indicate that education exports fell by 15% in 2011. Some commentators fear further slides before visa changes impact on numbers.

The Australian government today announced that more international students, will enjoy the extension of post-study work arrangements agreed in September – a sign of its continuing ambition to boost the country’s international education sector.

All Australian students will be entitled to learn a language other than English under the new Australian curriculum, with tuition in Chinese Mandarin and Italian among the first curriculum to be developed...

Australia has published a new book that charts its 25-year history of welcoming international students. The book was officially unveiled today in Canberra by Senator Evans, who also talked about a new five-year national strategy towards education exports in the "Asian century".

International education earnings in Australia have fallen by AU$2.5 billion in the last 12 months, according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The sector is reported to have earned $15.1bn in the four quarters to September this year, compared with $17.6bn over the preceding 12 months – a fall of 14 per cent. […]

In a show of faith in Australian HE, Laureate is to establish the country’s first private university in 24 years, aiming for 50% of its student body to be international and offering semesters across the Laureate university network.

A private college chain in Australia faces liquidation after failing to pay AUS$234,972 in commission to an agency that recruited international students on its behalf.

Building on measures introduced in the wake of the Knight Review to raise international student numbers, Australia is to launch a new council advising on the development of its international education industry. The International Education Advisory Council (IEAC), which includes 12 eminent figures from Australia’s education and business communities, will contribute to a national strategy […]

The Australian government has spectacularly reacted to the Knight review by adopting all 41 of its recommendations, published last week, ushering in new visa policies for international students in Australia from 2012 that will have far-reaching consequences. In a complete policy mis-match to the UK, which is restricting access to the employment market for international […]

The Australian government invited industry stakeholders to submit opinions online earlier this year, in light of the Strategic Review of the Student Visa Program, and their opinions certainly make interesting reading, suggesting easily resolvable problems in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, and reflecting an appetite for increased regulation for education agencies, many of […]

In typical Australian fashion, the country has expended resources trying to understand the well-publicised attacks on Indian students (and crime in general against international students) from a statistical point-of-view, and adopt counter-measures appropriately. Widespread media coverage of the attacks led to a rapid drop-off in Indian enrolments in 2009 and 2010 and soul-searching among policy-makers […]

An IELTS testing centre at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, is to close after an investigation found that test-takers were able to cheat their results – one newspaper report in The Australian said that students would pay up to AUS$11,000 for fake IELTS results – a competent language proficiency score can mean a pathway […]

The owners of two convenience stores in Australia were fined in April for underpaying foreign students employed in Melbourne and Geelong.