Late November, the Australian government released a 10-year strategy for international education with the goal of strengthening the international education sector in Australia in the coming years. Three important points were introduced:
- Have more diversity amongst the international student population: China and India currently account for 58 percent of overseas students in Australia. Diversification would reduce financial risk while also enhancing the entire student experience. The government will introduce new transparency measures around student diversity including a diversification index.
- Better alignment between the courses studied and Australian skill shortages: nearly half of all international students studying in Australia are enrolled in business and management courses, yet graduating in priority skills areas such as computing or accounting would be more beneficial to the country. Better aligning program choices with priority employment fields will deliver more job-ready graduates in the disciplines and regions where they are most needed.
- Encourage more students to start their studies offshore: only 20% Australia’s international students are now studying offshore. However, the government is look to triple this number by looking up to the UK. This would help the international student market flourish again even if they cannot come to Australia given the strict entry policies.
The last point is further support by different measures. 1) International institutes that were affected by COVID-19 will be supported financially. 2) Changes to visa settings will also provide much needed flexibility for international students as they set to return to Australia. 3) As a means of attracting qualified employees into the economy, students who study for an Australian education certificate in their home countries should be provided equal access to post-study job privileges in Australia.
This is interesting because it indicates that students that graduate from Australian universities in other country, like Vietnam, should/will have similar knowledge and skill sets to students graduated from universities in Australia. In other words, an Australian professional in an offshore country is no different, in terms of qualification, than an Australian professional in regional Australia.
Previously, the top reason accounting businesses were hesitant to offshore outsource was a fear that the work provided by overseas outsourcing providers would be worse to that performed onshore. What’s keeping accounting firms from outsourcing now that that’s been revealed to be false?
If you’d like to talk more about how Odyssey can assist your accounting firm in this challenging time, drop us a line.
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