Websites for Friday’s meeting 26.08.2022 – Miranda
The three websites that are within the Websites for 26.08.2022, above, are enclosed and provided a lively form for discussion last Friday.
Starting with the first discussion on students coming back to universities by Peter Hurley from the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University published on February 14, 2022, it was noted that they are coming back, but nowhere near the numbers which were pre-pandemic. Some interesting statistics were also provided and I asked people to provide the latest information and statistics. He also says that “following the 2011 Knight Review, many international students have been able to apply for a post-study visa. This lets them work in Australia for between one and five years after finishing their course” and that “competitor countries are also using post-study work rights to attract a bigger share of international enrolments”. This was especially important since many international students work in the low-paid industries such as cleaning, bar attendants, waiters, and aged and disabled carers. Elaine, provided some information and statistics, and referred to the information sent by Monique previously, in the previous week or two.
The next article, was from the Punjab in India and was published on June 2 in 2021, was on the students who were able to obtain a visa easily, due to their academic grades which were high and were in the fields that were needed here in Australia – that is, doctors. That article was more a inside look into those kinds of students.
The third article, was from Andrew Norton, from the Australian National University and was published on February 11 2022, which provided a lot of information and statistics and also some graphs to demonstrate what he was saying. It was a more complex look into the situation here in Australia, and the changes that are taking place. He was saying that students were coming back to Australia to study, and that, because of the changes to the immigration by the government, students were now able to work 40 or more hours per week, which was very encouraging for Indian and Nepalese students. However, not as inviting for Chinese students, whose numbers were far lower. He also looked at job losses within the various universities, and he also says that “the long COVID of university employment will not clear for some time”.
Overall, the articles created quite a bit of discussion regarding this situation of the post-COVID 19 and what is being changed due to it and the various changes that have occurred because of it and the different variants of COVID that have resulted from the original. Most of the people in the room participated in the discussion, and Elaine and Seham had quite a lot to say about the situation, as did some of the others. It is notable that Monique was not present at the meeting, due to her being on annual leave.