On 4th August 2020, an online panel discussion was jointly organised by Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism and The Centre for Research on North America titled “High Skilled Migration During and Post COVID-19: Perspectives from Latin America and Asia”. One of the speakers, Professor Laura Vazquez Maggio discussed the management of COVID-19 crisis by Australia and the impact of the crisis on international students.
Prof. Laura is an Associate Professor at the UNAM Faculty of Economics and is currently working on the migration of professional Mexican middle classes to the United States. She highlights that the number of skilled migrants arriving yearly in Australia has increased dramatically from 10,000 in the mid 1980’s to around 120,000 yearly in the past five years. The year 2018 witnessed an arrival of 112,000 skilled migrants in Australia. It is interesting to note that a high proportion of these migrants arrive from Latin American countries like Mexico. A vast majority of Mexican migrants are highly skilled in Australia.
Steps taken by the Australian government to manage the crisis:
Due to the pandemic, many countries including Australia, imposed travel restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. Countries adopted measures like shutting the airports, suspending incoming and outgoing flights, nationwide lockdown, forced quarantine etc. The Australian government has imposed a travel ban on non-Permanent Residents and non-citizens entering Australia. This means, if someone holds a temporary visa, he/she cannot travel to Australia. In terms of financial support provided by the Australian government, huge amount of money has been allocated to support people thrown out of work. The country has been able to provide tax support to individuals and businesses experiencing economic difficulties. It ensured that employers kept their employees in this difficult time by supporting companies in terms of short terms cash flows. The government initially announced that many of these measures would last for six months, but later announced that it would continue until March 2021.
Australia is an important destination for high skilled migrant workers, many of which are mostly citizens or permanent residents. Therefore, the most vulnerable are the high skilled temporary visa holders who are not eligible for financial support provided by the government.
International students and their relative importance on Australian Universities during and post COVID-19:
Thousands of students are stranded as many countries impose travel bans. Many Universities shifted their teaching methods from face to face learning to online education. These changes have significantly impacted international students. Students who joined prior to COVID-19 have to either stay in the country with online education and bear the costs of being in a foreign country or return to their country interrupting their academic plans. Whereas students who were to commence their studies right at the inception of the pandemic have had to put a hold on to their plans for international study.
Australian Universities are suffering job losses and it is estimated that this sector might lose up to $19billion in the next three years and more than 20,000 jobs are at risk over the next six months.
“Without international students, Australian Universities will downsize and some might collapse altogether” : Prof. Laura
In July, the Australian government announced certain visa changes to ensure international students are not worse off due to the pandemic as these students are an important part of the income of Australian economy.
Mohsina Noorien, the writer is an MPhil graduate from Centre for West Asian Studies, Jamia MilliaIslamia. Her areas of interest include identity politics, conflict and security, foreign policy, bilateral relations, diplomacy and refugee crisis. Twitter: @MohsinaNoorien.