Weiyi Zhang a Misshaped Block - Article Example

Weiyi Zhang a Misshaped Block A 22-year-old Accounting student at Macquarie University, Zhang has always wanted to become a journalist but enrolled in a different course under the advice that such a career would guarantee his eligibility to apply for Australian permanent residency after college. He is only one of the 40,000 foreign students who will be affected by the cancellation of the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) program. This major immigration policy change was announced by Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Sen.

Chris Evans last February 8. The connection between education and immigration is cut off as this policy aims cap and cease all General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas issued prior to September 1, 2007. Trade occupation nominees must then be reflective of the labor needs in a long-term assessment of the market needs for GSM applicants. The current MODL will be cancelled and reinstated with newer specifically skills-focused requirements as stipulated in the list. This exempts those who are skilled graduates under subclass 485 or with pending GSM visa applications.

The new Skilled Occupation List (SOL) also spares those who at February 8 are diploma holders with visa of Vocational Education and Training under subclass 572, Higher Education under subclass 573 and Postgraduate Research under subclass 574. But students with visa will need to have already acquired an occupation to be qualified for a permanent visa under the GSM program.“I was hoping to be a journalist,” Zhang says. He will be gravely affected by these changes. Scheduled to graduate in July with a degree in accounting, this new development means that he gave up his dream for nothing.

What is most likely to happen is that Zhang will go back to his country with nothing. No permanent Australian resident visa and a diploma for a course that was not exactly his immediate choosing. His hopes and dreams of a better future diminished after years of grueling academic pressures. Giving up his dream of a media related career for nothing.The education industry of the country holds the third biggest foreign exchange source. These alterations to migration guidelines are seen as causing a major impact in the education sector.

These students spent thousands for an Australian education in their belief of securing permanent residency status in a stable and progressive country. Not to mention the years that they have dedicated to finish their tertiary education. Living in a foreign land is not easy, even more so if you have to study in it. These students had to cope with the different pressures they were not previously accustomed to such as the language barrier and cultural diversity that comes with it. They are giving up hopes and dreams for the aspiration of having a permanent Australian residency status.

Eric Wu, an Australian College Information Centre (ACIC) education agent sees this as a positive move by the government in ensuring the quality of education in the country. He maintains that education should not be a springboard for immigration. This, he states, undermines the foundation of an important sector of society and such an initiative is important in bringing back the credibility that is due to education. In effect, this will foster talents of individuals as future professionals. This may be true but in the foreign students’ point of view, this new policy means the end of their immigration dreams.

Much like Zhang, they would be neither here nor there with a degree that they may not hold dear back to the country where their future is uncertain. Thousands of hard-earned money exhausted and years spent in a foreign land without the favorable outcome they were hoping for.