by CLAIRE FIELD

there are major integrity problems with visas being lodged by prospective VET students from India and Nepal

The Department of Home Affairs continues to impress with increased transparency towards the sector. And just to be clear, having worked in international education for 15 years that is not a sentence I ever thought I would write.

Long may this level of transparency last as it allows providers and others working in the sector to better understand the work DHA is doing, where the risks are – and hopefully to moderate their activities accordingly.

If you have not seen it yet, the Department’s September Provider Update highlights both the progress DHA is making in trying to clear the visa processing backlog as well as the increase in student visas being lodged. They note that in both June and July 2022 they received more offshore student visa applications than they had in the past 10 years (for those two months).

They also note that they are continuing to prioritise offshore student visa processing, with more than 91 000 visas finalised in the three months to July 2022.

The Provider Update also includes new visa grant rate data. And we need to acknowledge we have major integrity problems in visas being lodged by prospective VET students from two of our largest source countries.

The VET sector currently has a much lower student visa grant rate (58.2 per cent) than higher education (93.5 per cent) undoubtedly as students are attracted to cheaper VET courses by the unlimited work hours. The two most concerning figures for visa grant rates in July 2022 though were:

* India: 36.8 per cent

* Nepal: 8.2 per cent

At the same time DHA released their Provider Update, the Western Australia government released details of how its $10m Agent Incentive Scheme will work. The Scheme was first announced in the May 2022 State Budget and it will provide payments of:

* $500 per student to agents enrolling a confirmed international student in a school, ELICOS or VET provider, and

* $1 000 per student for a confirmed university student enrolment.

While the WA government is to be commended for trying to help rebuild international student numbers after their lengthy border closures during COVID, given the integrity problems in the VET sector at present it is hard to see that this is the best investment which could be made.

Meanwhile let’s hope ASQA is able to identify and sanction providers deliberately targeting non-genuine students, who may be slipping through the net despite DHA’s best efforts.

 Claire Field is an advisor to the tertiary education sector