The National Tertiary Education Union has called for a guarantee there will be no higher education job losses resulting from a new ministerial direction on international student visa applications.
Ministerial direction 111, which comes into effect today, will effectively mean a slow-down of visa processing once an institution reaches 80 per cent of its international student allocation.
The new scheme replaces ministerial direction 107, which slowed visa processing for smaller universities and students from countries considered to be higher risks of breaching visa conditions.
NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes said:
"While this change is welcome for regional and smaller universities, our union's unwavering focus is protecting every single job across the sector.
"The NTEU has been crystal clear: the federal government must guarantee there will be no job losses stemming from changes to international student rules.
"We are calling for a transition fund to be put in place to ensure universities have no excuse but to protect their most precious asset – staff.
"Vice-chancellors have already shown a willingness to use changes to international student arrangements as fig leaf to cover their own failures, and unfairly threaten job cuts.
"The scaremongering must now end once and for all.
"We need an iron-clad commitment from universities and the federal government that this ministerial direction will not lead to a single job being cut."
