Latest News
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CEO Report April 2024
It’s been another very busy month! We’ve seen further announcements from the government of changes and reviews, including the list of pathway courses exempted from the increase to English language proficiency levels and the commencement of a review of the migration points system.
We have also seen continuing challenges in our sector with student visa applications being refused at record levels. The monthly data analysis report will be coming out later this week, but members will be very aware that key markets have been badly impacted.
I've been actively engaging with members, government, media, agents and other stakeholders on these changes and challenges. This has included conversations with the office of the Minister of Home Affairs as well as the department; with the departments of Treasury and Education; with the regulators and TPS; with the other peak sector bodies; with each of the state, territory, and regional study destination organisations; and, of course, with many members and their agents. More on these efforts in the full CEO report.
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CEO Report March 2024
March has seen the continuation of challenges and poor outcomes in terms of Australia’s student visa regime. Extensive and widespread delays have continued to cause uncertainty and have seen many students miss their first-semester course intakes. At the same time, student visa applications have continued to see inconsistent decision-making with very high refusal rates in certain key markets and generic explanations for these refusals.
These challenges have been exacerbated by the rushed early announcement from Minister Clare O’Neil that the new English language proficiency levels would come into effect with only two days’ notice and with many details of these changes yet to be finalised by the department.
Further announcements of changes in the visa regime have included:
· the implementation of the shift from the GTE to the ‘Genuine Student’ requirement,
· references to increasing the application of the ‘no further stay’ condition,
· the Minister’s intention to make use of the powers granted under section 97 of the ESOS Act to suspend providers from CRICOS.
This month I have travelled to attend each of the State and Territory branch meetings around the country, visited many member colleges, attended the QLD PD Fest, met with TEQSA and ASQA, attended an EVCC meeting and an Industry Peak Body Roundtable, voiced member concerns with a number of media outlets, and had many conversations with members to better understand the impact of visa refusals and delays and the issues with transparency and clarity in some of the changes.
English Australia has also been busy preparing our 2024 Annual Conference and running PD Fests in five states, publishing the Full Calendar Year Market Analysis for 2023, and much more.
Read on for the full update.
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March 2024 PD Update
The latest Professional Development events and news from English Australia.
Upcoming Events
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SA PD Fest 2024
Join us for this mini-conference in Adelaide presented by the SA Branch of English Australia.
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AI in ELT Ideas Exchange
Join members of the English Australia Ed Tech SIG for an informal online discussion to share ideas about how we are using Gen AI tools for our lessons.
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English Australia represents over 120 member colleges throughout Australia. These colleges provide quality English language programs to students and professionals from around the world.
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