“Come back to Australia!”The government is stepping up its appeals to international students and backpackers at a time when labour shortages are crippling many economic sectors.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison made it a point to announce it in person at a press conference: students or holders of a work holiday permit heading to Australia by next April will return part of their visa fee, which means 600 Australian dollars (380 euros), Welcome Free Belgium :
Want to go abroad? Australia is reducing student and traveller visa fees.”
Urgently attract 150,000 foreign students
The stakes are high not just for Australian universities, but for the entire country where some economic sectors, such as catering, agriculture or health services, are experiencing labor shortages :
The move, estimated at 55 million Australian dollars( 35) Million euros) aims to attract workers to the country. 150 is hope 000 students and 23 The 500 ‘backpackers’ who already had a visa are falling and heading to Australia, whose borders have long been closed.”
“It’s about coming back and saying Thank you to the students who have continued to choose Australia, but we also want them to be able to come here and respond to this severe labor shortage”, Scott Morrison has confirmed.
In a Tribune Published by the site Conversation, Academic Nancy Arthur points out that the border closure has reduced enrollment by up to 70% in some sectors of Australian Higher Education. The impact of the pandemic on university finances resulted in the loss of 35,000 jobs. Nancy Arthur continues :
The risk now is that we will lose future skilled workers and future Australian citizens.”
The teacher, who conducts research at the University of South Australia on foreign students, urges authorities to expand measures already taken in their favour and think urgently about other initiatives.
Source
Launched in April 2016 and aimed at candidates for French expatriates and foreigners, Corriere expat provides information obtained from the International Press on the professional and personal environment of the French abroad
[…]
Read more