Universities may miss out on top-level academics due to abolition of 457 visas

INNER west universities and research institutes could be hit hard by the abolition of 457 visas which are often used to bring top-level academics into Australia for cutting-edge projects.

Academics fear changes to 457 visas will affected their staff and students.

• Land under homes nabbed for WestConnex
• Lawn bowlers disturbed the peace at an Ashfield Anzac service Park

INNER west universities and research institutes could be hit hard by the abolition of 457 visas which are often used to bring top-level academics into Australia for cutting-edge projects.

The changes, recently announced by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, sparked an immediate response from the Group of Eight universities, which said the new rules could be extremely damaging to academic recruitment.

University of Sydney vice-chancellor Michael Spence appealed to the Federal Government to ensure top-level researchers and academics working in Australia from overseas would not be penalised.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the changes last week.

“The issue of skilled migration becomes particularly important for communities like the inner west where there is a real concentration of both hi-tech industry and also education and research facilities,” he said.

Dr Spence said the university employed about 340 people on 457 visas, some of whom were among the best and brightest in their fields from around the world.

These included the likes of quantum physicist Michael Biercuk and Design Computing program director Dr Martin Tomitsch who in turn shared their skills and knowledge with Australians.

Sydney University vice-chancellor Michael Spence.

In a time when the university was desperate for academics Dr Tomitsch moved to Sydney from Austria to work in the field of interaction design/human-computer interaction, otherwise described as the UX (user-experience) industry.

“The area I work in is cutting edge but it is also a very young area so there is not much academic talent around the world that are able to fill these positions,” Dr Tomitsch said.

“At the time I started and even now when we advertise positions in these areas we have difficulty finding people.”

Dr Tomitsch added: “The implications of changes to the visa are not just problematic for the university but there is a knock-on effect.
“We are trying to train students to be able to work in the field and if we are not able to do that the industry and the students will be impacted.”

Dr Martin Tomitsch at Victoria Park, Camperdown. Picture: Craig Wilson

Dr Spence agreed: “The visas allow us to bring people in, particularly at the post doctoral level from right around the world, to make sure that we have really able teams effectively to do what the government always says it wants to do - start new industries and create new jobs,”

He added: “ I certainly don’t want to slam the government for failing to take university and research workers into account.

“What I want to say is, ‘don’t forget universities and research workers when you are formulating the policy and eventually the legislation. Remember that this is a rather particular group of workers with a particular contribution to make’.”

Dr Spence was not personally consulted about the changes and said he was not aware of any consultation with the university sector.

One of the issues with the 457 visas is applicants are required to show they have two years work experience. But in the academic world, researchers are often hired straight out of their PhD programs without any so-called commercial experience.

Universities hope once the detail of the legislation is worked out, people coming out of their PhDs would be eligible to be hired.

“You would want our universities to be bringing the best and brightest from around the world, wouldn’t you?” Dr Spence said. “It seems to me to be obviously good for the country.”

A spokeswoman for Federal Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said:

“ Universities will continue to be able to attract the best and brightest minds from Australia and the world.

“The Government recognises that work experience may take different forms for different occupations, such as research and teaching experience accumulated by PhDs.’”