Include Visa condition 8206 restriction on change of Edu provider for 12 months in SSVF
The Issue
AAERI (Association of Australian Education Representative in India) is the peak body of 'India based' official representatives of Australian Universities. Setup in 1996, it is now in its 20th year of operation.
Today at AAERI, we have 123 members with 514 offices in India and holding 95% market share for the students going to Australia. All these members have undergone third party due diligence via Integra (world check) and their counselors are EATC, Australia certified. All members have direct representation agreements with at-least one University or TAFE.
It is estimated that in a year, approximately 22,000 fresh student visas are issued by the Australian High commission, New Delhi. On the face value they are Genuine Students who intend to study & complete their course at a specific Education Provider. As per the following report “The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has also identified around 1,000 ‘course-hopping’ international students, who arrived using the Streamlined Visa Process (SVP), but later illegally moved to unaccredited and often cheaper colleges. It is also quoted that "in addition, the student visa cancellations have doubled from 1978 in 2012 to 7,061 in 2013".
In a recent article explaining ‘course-hopping’, it states that: “Often with the countries they’re coming from, if they had applied for the visa offshore for that vocational college, they would not have been accepted.”
This proves the fact that course hopping, also known as "waka jumping" is a serious problem. Not only the huge offshore marketing investment and subsequent financial returns of serious Australian Education Providers are being lost, but also serious Education Agents who recruited the student offshore are losing their reputations and income as a result of non-genuine student actions for which they have no control.
AAERI is of the view that such practices are attracting non-genuine students who initially opt for a reputable Education Provider to avail their course and institution specific visa and on arrival or within a few weeks of entering the Australian migration zone they change to another Education Provider, which they would not have been issued a visa for if they applied for this institution in their home country.
Now with the Introduction of SSVF system which is likely to be rolled out in July 2016 wherein the assessment levels are reduced from 8 to 2 which also means that more number of Education providers will join the pool of SSVF system.
Whilst, this will provide Education Providers with an equal playing field, we believe that unless Visa Condition 8206 Restriction on Change of Education Provider for 12 Months is not formally included in this scheme, the Australian export education industry will continue to be abused by non-serious students who seek a transfer immediately on or soon after arrival in the Australian migration zone.
This will be especially so if students who are granted a course and Education Provider specific student visa are permitted to transfer sideways into a similar program at the same AQF level on or soon after arrival in Australia. We fear that the instability to the export education industry that course hopping creates will be compounded with the introduction of the new SSVF system.
Hence, we at AAERI request the Australian Government to reintroduce Visa Restriction 8206 which restricts international student from changing their Education Provider for 12 months after they commence the academic program from which their student visa was issued by their diplomatic post.
A Genuine International Student and a Genuine Temporary Entrant is an international student who firstly conducts serious research, takes appropriate professional advice and ultimately selects their international study program at a specific Education Provider and completes the course at the same Education Provider. In today's World, with the help of technology & communication such genuine international students can find the minutest detail about a particular course and Education Provider before taking a final decision.
Countries such as USA (with more stable export education industries) also issue course and Education Provider specific visa to international students, but with the Education Provider’s name mentioned in the visa so students are restricted to studying at that institution – we request that the Australian Government do the same.
The above amendment will not only attract the genuine students but will also safeguard the Australian Education Export Industry – one of the largest and most prospective industries in Australia.
Rahul A Gandhi
President - AAERI
The Issue
AAERI (Association of Australian Education Representative in India) is the peak body of 'India based' official representatives of Australian Universities. Setup in 1996, it is now in its 20th year of operation.
Today at AAERI, we have 123 members with 514 offices in India and holding 95% market share for the students going to Australia. All these members have undergone third party due diligence via Integra (world check) and their counselors are EATC, Australia certified. All members have direct representation agreements with at-least one University or TAFE.
It is estimated that in a year, approximately 22,000 fresh student visas are issued by the Australian High commission, New Delhi. On the face value they are Genuine Students who intend to study & complete their course at a specific Education Provider. As per the following report “The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has also identified around 1,000 ‘course-hopping’ international students, who arrived using the Streamlined Visa Process (SVP), but later illegally moved to unaccredited and often cheaper colleges. It is also quoted that "in addition, the student visa cancellations have doubled from 1978 in 2012 to 7,061 in 2013".
In a recent article explaining ‘course-hopping’, it states that: “Often with the countries they’re coming from, if they had applied for the visa offshore for that vocational college, they would not have been accepted.”
This proves the fact that course hopping, also known as "waka jumping" is a serious problem. Not only the huge offshore marketing investment and subsequent financial returns of serious Australian Education Providers are being lost, but also serious Education Agents who recruited the student offshore are losing their reputations and income as a result of non-genuine student actions for which they have no control.
AAERI is of the view that such practices are attracting non-genuine students who initially opt for a reputable Education Provider to avail their course and institution specific visa and on arrival or within a few weeks of entering the Australian migration zone they change to another Education Provider, which they would not have been issued a visa for if they applied for this institution in their home country.
Now with the Introduction of SSVF system which is likely to be rolled out in July 2016 wherein the assessment levels are reduced from 8 to 2 which also means that more number of Education providers will join the pool of SSVF system.
Whilst, this will provide Education Providers with an equal playing field, we believe that unless Visa Condition 8206 Restriction on Change of Education Provider for 12 Months is not formally included in this scheme, the Australian export education industry will continue to be abused by non-serious students who seek a transfer immediately on or soon after arrival in the Australian migration zone.
This will be especially so if students who are granted a course and Education Provider specific student visa are permitted to transfer sideways into a similar program at the same AQF level on or soon after arrival in Australia. We fear that the instability to the export education industry that course hopping creates will be compounded with the introduction of the new SSVF system.
Hence, we at AAERI request the Australian Government to reintroduce Visa Restriction 8206 which restricts international student from changing their Education Provider for 12 months after they commence the academic program from which their student visa was issued by their diplomatic post.
A Genuine International Student and a Genuine Temporary Entrant is an international student who firstly conducts serious research, takes appropriate professional advice and ultimately selects their international study program at a specific Education Provider and completes the course at the same Education Provider. In today's World, with the help of technology & communication such genuine international students can find the minutest detail about a particular course and Education Provider before taking a final decision.
Countries such as USA (with more stable export education industries) also issue course and Education Provider specific visa to international students, but with the Education Provider’s name mentioned in the visa so students are restricted to studying at that institution – we request that the Australian Government do the same.
The above amendment will not only attract the genuine students but will also safeguard the Australian Education Export Industry – one of the largest and most prospective industries in Australia.
Rahul A Gandhi
President - AAERI
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on 13 December 2015