Amid extraordinary efforts to persuade students from the subcontinent to remain in Australia after graduating, Indian students are pouring into the country.
Following the Jobs & Skills Summit last September, the Albanese Government extended post-study work rights for international students to six years.
Labor also increased the number of hours international students could work while studying.
In early March, Education Minister Jason Clare travelled to India with a group of twenty vice chancellors and university representatives from Australia to foster relations between the two nations’ educational systems.
That came after several months of record-breaking numbers of student visa student arrivals, led by India.
Record-breaking net student visa arrivals.
By December 2022, Australia was host to almost as many Indian students as those from China, the country’s long time top market.
Since then, Indian student numbers have soared higher.
Numbers will only grow from here given Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this month signed a mutual recognition agreement with India that allows Indian educated and trained people to work in Australia, alongside expedited student visa approvals.
As reported last week, academics have called for universities to help the growing numbers of students from the subcontinent to find jobs.
This was in recognition of the fact that most of these “students want to study in Australia so as to get a job here and then gain either permanent residency or citizenship” – a fact also evidenced by a recent Navitas survey:
Students from South Asia and Africa care about work rights and migration, not quality of education.
This was also in response to surveys showing only 57% of undergraduate Indian students and less than 53% of postgraduates had full-time employment after they graduated.
Author Jasvir Kaur Nachatar Singh claims universities must step up their game and provide funding for their career offices so they could offer more useful advice on career planning and development for international students.
Singh also says universities need to help employers understand Australia’s post-study work rights environment, as well as partner with employers to provide placements, internships, volunteer opportunities, and jobs for foreign graduates.
“There are two types of employers here – one is informed and the other is not”, claims Singh.
Following Singh’s recommendations would obviously demote the interests of Australian students, depriving them of crucial job opportunities and experience.
Our policymakers should instead focus on ensuring that local graduates find employment in their chosen disciplines rather than catering to international students.
Otherwise, what is the point of being Australian?
Moreover, policymakers ought to focus on a smaller pool of excellent (genuine) students by increasing the financial hurdles for entering Australia, raising the entrance standards (especially for English language competency), and removing the clear connection between studying, working, and permanent residency.
These changes would boost student quality, increase export income per student, enhance wages and working conditions, and lower enrolment levels to manageable and sustainable levels, which would enhance quality and the learning environment for local students and ease population pressures.
Regrettably, the Albanese government has instead chosen to go in the opposite direction by raising the weekly work cap by four hours and lengthening post-graduate work permits for graduates by two years.
Labor has chosen quantity above quality with these decisions, which will result in a rental and inequality nightmare for young Australians.
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also Chief Economist and co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
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