Local News
Victorian Education Industry Stakeholders discuss their problems with Federal Liberal Team
Windsor Hotel, Melbourne: A group of dozen Education Industry Stakeholders from Victoria met with the senior advisers of Federal Liberal leader Mr. Tony Abbott to discuss their problems. This meeting was arranged by Community leader Mr. Nitin Gupta.
Mark Roberts who is a Senior Adviser to the Federal Opposition leader Mr. Tony Abbott, and other Liberal party members discussed in detail the problems being faced by the biggest export earning industry for Victoria. The group is expected to get an audience with Federal Opposition leader Mr. Tony Abbott pretty soon.
Surprisingly PM Julia Gillard and her ex-boss Premier John Brumby and his government have remained idle while international student enrolments – Victoria’s largest export income business – continue to plummet. International student enrolments have fallen dramatically, costing Victoria more than a billion dollars.
According to visa applications data and modelling by Access Economics for the Australian Council of Private Education and Training, 40,000 fewer international students will enrol with Victorian providers next year.
Community leader Mr. Nitin Gupta said "This slump is estimated to cost 10,000 jobs and more than a billion dollars in export income, yet Julia Gillard and her ex-boss John Brumby remain silent. Premier John Brumby should be promoting our biggest industry and lobbying Julia Gillard to minimise the fall-out from recent changes to the Skilled Occupation List and student visa conditions."
Nitin further commented "If John Brumby is not prepared to stand up for Victoria, it is clear that he is rolling over for his former chief of staff whose policies led to this dramatic fall in student numbers."
Nitin added: "John Brumby must end his silence and urgently take steps to promote and strengthen our education industry.While it is important to take action against so-called dodgy providers, State and Federal Labor Governments are doing very little to help sound and ethical public and private education providers that are the backbone of this multi-billion-dollar industry."
Community leader Mr. Nitin Gupta has also advised the Education Industry Stakeholder to take some cue from the mining industry, and get their act together. Nitin said that the total value of Victoria's mining industry is 1.5 billion dollars per year. The amount already lost by Victoria's education industry is in excess of 1.5 biliion dollars already.
