Australia plans tougher,need-based migrant law

From India,Australia wants to attract young migrants with high quality skills in fields like IT,health and engineering. To this effect,Australia would organise a skills expo in India next year. He also made it clear that studying in Australia would not give a person automatic access to permanent residency.

“The Australian Government will adjust the (skilled stream migration) programme to meet out national needs and not be driven by the education choice of overseas students,” he said. Australia has already announced a review of its Migration Occupations in Demand List.

“People want good quality education,and we are happy to provide it. Afterwards if those students then want to seek permanent residency on the basis of the qualification they acquired,they are welcome to do so,but we will be selecting those students on the basis of the skills we need,” he elaborated at a function here.

Evans admitted that the recent attacks against Indian students there have somewhat damaged Australia’s reputation as a safe destination. Canberra is on an overdrive to repair the damage. He said Australian Prime Minister Kevin Michael Rudd and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard,who also holds charge of Education,will be visiting India later this year to take forward bilateral ties in the fields of education,security,science,technology and economy.

Evans also had a meeting with HRD Minister Kapil Sibal. The two discussed issues ranging from the attacks on Indian students to a roadmap for future ties. Sibal also suggested that the Indo-Australia Joint Working Group on Education be raised to the ministerial level and cover areas like social welfare of students,mutual recognition of degrees and academic cooperation.

Sibal is also learnt to have proposed that a dedicated nodal officer be appointed by both nations to enable free flow of information related to student welfare,especially in the context of quality of education being offered by an institute.