Work visa sweetener for international uni students

International students forced to remain overseas may still be granted graduate work rights.

Education Minister Dan Tehan. Picture: AAP

International students enrolled at Australian universities but forced to remain overseas and study online because of the COVID-19 pandemic will still be granted graduate work rights under concessions to the embattled higher education sector being considered by the Morrison government.

Overseas students are currently entitled to post-study visas only if they undertake their course in the country.

Under the plan, according to sources familiar with the proposal, students would remain eligible despite returning to their home countries and studying online.

Universities have warned for months that the pandemic would devastate their research and teaching funding by keeping away lucrative international students, with modelling released by the sector’s peak body suggesting a $16bn drop in revenues over the next three years.

But the latest COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria has halted nascent plans to bring back nearly 35,000 international students from the end of the month.

The Australian can reveal universities in NSW had developed a plan with Berejiklian government officials to fly into Sydney 250 international students every day for 100 days, beginning later this month.

Last week, following the Victorian outbreak and imposition of tough restrictions on inter­national flights into Sydney, that plan was halted.

The changes to the post-study work visa, expected to be announced by the Morrison government in coming weeks, will benefit thousands of students now studying their courses online from overseas.

Education Minister Dan Tehan did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.

The visa is highly prized by many students, and gives those who complete a bachelor or masters degree by coursework the opportunity to stay on for two years after graduation. At present, it is available only to inter­national students who reside in Australia during their study.

The Morrison government is also expected to either reduce or waive visa renewal fees for students whose visas are expiring but who have stayed on in Australia because of the difficulty of returning home.

The visa changes will help keep Australian universities competitive with rival institutions in Britain and Canada, which both intend to allow large numbers of international students to arrive for the start of the northern hemisphere academic year in September.

The Victorian COVID-19 spike has jeopardised all state government plans for early entry of international students.

A proposal developed by Victorian universities and the Andrews government to bring 7000 international students to that state has fallen victim to the virus, and smaller programs to deliver 700 students to the ACT and 800 to South Australia are on hold.

While the Morrison government has conditionally backed pilot programs for entry of international students for the second semester this year, it told state governments on Friday it would not allow in the next few months the large-scale entry of students sought by some universities.

The smaller pilot programs for student arrivals in the ACT and SA are on hold because of Scott Morrison’s insistence that all state and territory borders be opened before international students can enter the country.

The ACT, SA and NSW borders are closed to Victorians.

The University of Canberra and the Australian National University were due to organise two 350-passenger flights — one this month, one in September — from an international hub such as Singapore for students who were part-way through their courses but unable to return to Australia.

Sources in the federal government not able to publicly comment told The Australian on Monday that the chances of an ACT pilot program going ahead this month were “low” — but did not rule them out completely.

A spokeswoman for the University of Canberra and ANU said on Monday the two universities would revise their plans to return foreign students following the border restrictions with Victoria, which require all returning Canberrans to self-isolate for 14 days from Wednesday.

“We don’t yet know the impact of the NSW/Victorian border closure on the ACT and are working through our arrangements for affected students to ensure they are able to successfully continue their studies,” she said.

“We are continuing to work through the details of the pilot with the aim to return a small group of continuing international students safely back to their life in Canberra.

“Our primary focus remains the safety and wellbeing of the Canberra community, our students and our campuses.

“The pilot includes stringent pre-departure and post-arrival testing, and when it goes ahead will operate under the strict arrival and quarantine protocols that has seen the ACT successfully manage overseas repatri­ations over the past few months.”