Too little too late

The NSW Government response to the findings of the NSW Ministerial Taskforce on International Education was released at a round table of the Indian community leaders 72 hours after the Federal Government made drastic changes to the migration programme. These changes announced by Minister Chris Evans will have a profound effect on the thousands of Indian students in New South Wales. It seemed that the Ministerial Task Force which took over 12 months to deliver these findings have delivered too little and much too late.

The past 8 months have seen an explosion in issues relating to the international student community in NSW. Attacks on students, street protests and marches have hit the headlines regularly. The Australian Prime Minister has visited India and the Indian Foreign Minister has come down under, with the student sagas dominating their talks and visits. Diplomats from both countries have been kept busy. Overall, the landscape has changed considerably since the task force was established.

The three key expectations of the international students were the availability of travel concessions; the establishment of low cost housing close to their institution of education, and a job placement service through their place of eduction were addressed in the findings.

No firm commitment to any of these was made by the NSW Government. Other issues of an international student centre etc.

However, the Premier’s task force on international education has decided to establish an International Student of the Year award to recognise international student achievement in NSW. Other initiatives announced were:

* The Premier will establish an international education advisory board for NSW, called the Premier Council on International Education (PCIE).

* The taskforce will provide a copy of its findings to Commonwealth Government and PCIE which will continue the work in the

* The NSW Government will create a website which will help International Students with information on living in NSW, with links to a variety of websites such as safety, travel, accommodation etc.

* The Minister of Education and Training will write to all NSW international education providers about the importance of taking an active role in providing assistance to students in finding accommodation during the first semester of their studies.

* PCIE will work with NSW Transport Department and education providers on a range of options including possible sponsorship, making pre-purchasing of tickets easier for first semester students, providing better online information and purchasing longer-term tickets which are cheaper.

* On safety issues, the NSW Police Force will build on existing initiatives to maintain a safe environment for international students.

* PCIE will work with all stakeholders, including education providers to provide international students with support at all stages. The PCIE will consider an international student festival and working with local councils to make social engagement activities and services available to international students.

* The PCIE will play a key role in the development of an international marketing plan to position NSW as Australia’s premier state for education

* The PCIE will establish an International Student of the Year award to recognise achievement.

However with the changes at the Federal level and a sharp decline in international vocational students expected in the coming years, one needs to question the relevance of these initiatives on international education. A response such as this may have had better value and created more goodwill, if it had been released a few months earlier.

Pawan Luthra