Highlights
- Student visa holders stranded overseas are making a desperate plea to the Australian government to allow them back into Australia
- Department of Education, Skills and Employment says state and territory governments are responsible for pilot programs
- Student visa holders stuck overseas are finding it hard to keep up with online studies due to lack of resources.
The fate of thousands of international students stuck outside of Australia as a result of the country’s hard border closure remains in limbo, as they anxiously wait for the government to roll out the plans to allow them back into the country.
Puneet Goyal, a Melbourne based Masters student who remains stuck in India says paying a huge ongoing fees while being stuck in India is creating a huge financial as well as emotional burden, and hence he had no choice but to defer his semester.
"While I was in Australia I working alongside studying. That made me capable of paying my tuition fee and look after my expenses on my own, but now I cannot contribute to my fees and this is creating a big financial stress for me."
"I also have a personal loan to pay off that I took when I first came to Australia, but now that I'm stuck in India, the financial burden is leaving me with no choice but to defer my semester," said Mr Goyal.
Mr Goyal said many students visa holders are on the verge of losing their visas now and there has been no announcement from the Australian government to assist those whose visa has either expired or is expiring soon.
“For many of us, the validity of our visas are close to expiry, and we’re not even sure if the government would provide us with any provision to extend the visa, considering that we had to defer our studies because of this unwanted situation,” he added.
As things stand, nearly 6,600 of the country’s international students remain trapped in India and are anxiously waiting for the Australian government to roll out pilot plans to bring them back so that they could resume their studies.
When can international students stuck overseas resume their studies in Australia?
Answering a question raised by SBS Punjabi, a spokesperson from the Department of Education, Skills and Employment said, "State and territory governments are responsible for pilot programs to return international students in their jurisdictions."
"South Australia and the Northern Territory are implementing pilots. States and territories are expected to ensure that no international students take the place of Australians returning from overseas."
Time difference is a very big challenge in online study
Ravi Sharma, a Sydney-based MBA student says that there are so many challenges in online studies and the time difference between the two countries was the biggest constraint that forced him to defer his studies.
“I had to face a lot of challenges with online classes as both the countries have different time zones, I used to wake up around 5:00 in the morning to attend my online classes and not just that, once I had to wake up at 3:00 am to appear for my online exam,” says Mr Sharma.
“This was a very big challenge to keep up with my studies and was not doing justice to my career, so I had to defer my course.”
“Now, I just want to request the Australian government to provide some kind of provision for us stranded student visa holders to come back and resume our studies as our entire career is being compromised by relying on online education,” he added
A big drop in Australia's international student arrivals
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), a total number of 54,910 international students arrived in Australia in August last year.
However, there were only 50 international student arrivals In August 2020 and this was a decrease of -99.9% as compared to the same time last year.
According to a report issued by the Department of Education Skills and Employment 65,839 international students deferred their enrolments between January to June 2020 and out of those about 14,152 (21%) have since recommenced their studies.
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