Assistant Minister for Education and Training, Senator Simon Birmingham, has welcomed
today’s announcement of a new, simplified international student visa framework (SSVF) to support Australia’s international education sector.
“The decision to simplify the international student visa framework is good news for our economy, our local communities and jobs and the vocational education and training (VET) international students here in Australia,” Senator Birmingham said.
“This new model will achieve greater equity in student visa arrangements, and delivers benefits to a broader range of education institutions, including VET providers.
“The SSVF will support the growth of Australia’s international education sector by enhancing both competitiveness and integrity, while extending streamlined processing to all education sectors and all course types, including those in the VET sector.
“Across the sector, international education is already Australia’s most successful services export, worth $16.3 billion in 2013-14, and supporting around 130,000 jobs across Australia.
“The VET sector accounted for 22.5 per cent of all of Australia’s international student enrolments during first three months of 2015, confirming that our international VET sector continues to deliver the highest quality education and training.
“Our strong growth confirms the quality of Australia’s tertiary education and VET sectors and shows recent policy changes by the Abbott Government are helping to make Australia an increasingly popular destination for overseas students.
“It shows Australia is open for business, and welcomes genuine and high quality international students who provide a much-needed boost to our economy, our local communities and jobs.”
The SSVF will replace both the Streamlined Visa Processing arrangements and the current Assessment Level Framework and will apply to all international students.
“The SSVF will contribute to the objectives of the Draft National Strategy for International Education, which is the subject of a roundtable on international education this week,” Senator
Birmingham said.