Australia Approves TOEFL Test for Student Visas

Students from around the world who wish to study in Australia can now use their TOEFL test scores as part of their visa application as announced by Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

"I am very pleased the TOEFL test has been chosen as one of the new English test providers and I am confident they will provide a valuable service to student visa applicants," said the Hon. Chris Bowen MP, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. Mr Bowen said he expected two other tests, the Pearson Test of English Academic and the Cambridge English: Advanced tests, would get official recognition for students visa australia later this year. "These additional English language test options will help to create competition in the English language testing market, while creating more test places for student visa applicants. They will also provide candidates with greater choice and enable them to more quickly obtain test results needed for visa applications,'' he said.

The announcement is significant for large numbers of international students from Assessment Level 3 and 4 countries who are interested in studying in Australia. They now have the opportunity to use the TOEFL test to demonstrate their English language proficiency, satisfying the required language component of the visa application process. The students from China, India, Vietnam, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the Philippines, who are interested in studying in Australia will benefit from this new change. International students until now had IELTS (International English Language Testing System) only to demonstrate their English language proficiency for Australia student visas. In Australia, the International English Language Testing System is operated by education giant IDP. Globally, IELTS is owned by Cambridge University, IDP and the British Council.

This is a big breakthrough for ETS, the company that owns TOEFL test. The TOEFL test widely accepted in more than 8000 colleges and universities worldwide.

Rajni Bhatla, Director of Kampus Landing says, “The acceptance of TOEFL test for Australian student visas ends the monopoly of IELTS. Now, students once rejected from the USA will be able to apply for Australia immediately.” Further, Rajni is optimistic that this step will provide a major boost to Australian colleges and universities.

Rajni Bhatla said, “The TOEFL test is widely accepted recognized by over 8,000 institutions in more than 130 countries. Globally, the TOEFL test is available at more than 4,500 testing sites. To date, more than 25 million students around the world have taken the TOEFL test.”

The Kampus Landing team expects to send good number of students to Australia this year. Rajni is hopeful that TOEFL in near future will also be accepted in other Australian visa categories.

About TOEFL

For more than 45 years, the TOEFL test has been the most widely accepted English language assessment in the world, recognised by more than 8,000 colleges, universities and agencies including the most prestigious institutions in the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. And with more than 4,500 test sites around the world, the TOEFL test is more convenient than ever for students wishing to apply for study in Australia.

Source   http://www.theopenpress.com/index.php?a=press&id=106018

Australia Approves TOEFL® Test Scores for Student Visas

Students from around the world who wish to study in Australia can now use their TOEFL^® test scores as part of their visa application as announced by Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

"I am very pleased the TOEFL test has been chosen as one of the new English test providers and I am confident they will provide a valuable service to student visa applicants," said the Hon. Chris Bowen MP, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.

This announcement has significant meaning for large numbers of international students from Assessment Level 3 and 4 countries, including China, India, Vietnam, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the Philippines, who are interested in studying in Australia. International students now have the opportunity to use the TOEFL test to demonstrate their English language proficiency, satisfying the required language component of the visa application process. 

"Nearly every university and college in Australia already accepts TOEFL scores for admission purposes. Today's announcement means that students globally can now use their TOEFL scores for both visa and academic admission purposes," explains David Hunt, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of ETS's Global Division.

For more than 45 years, the TOEFL test has been the most widely recognized English language assessment in the world, used by more than 8,000 colleges, universities and agencies, including the most prestigious institutions in the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. And with more than 4,500 test sites globally, the TOEFL test is more convenient than ever for students wishing to apply for study in Australia. 

"The TOEFL test is the most widely accepted English language assessment worldwide. It is popular with prospective students and agents in all of Australia's major source markets. I'm sure that all of Australia's universities, VET and English language providers join me in welcoming the re-introduction of the TOEFL test for student visa purposes," commented Jeffrey Smart, Pro Vice- Chancellor (International and Recruitment) at Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology. "For many years, students have been able to gain academic admission into Australia's universities on the basis of their TOEFL score: now applicants will be able to satisfy visa requirements with this test as well. With students in 165 countries taking the TOEFL test, the Department's decision provides a boost to Australia's international student recruitment efforts offering a larger and more diverse applicant pool."

More information about the TOEFL test, including registration dates and free sample test questions, is available at www.TOEFLGoAnywhere.org.

Source  http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=742963&Itemid=29

Alternative English language tests added for Australian student visa applicants

Student visa applicants will now be able to use the TOEFL test to provide evidence of their English language ability.

Student visa applicants will be able to use the 'Test of English as a Foreign Language' (TOEFL) US-based testing for English language competency, Australian Immigration minister Chris Bowen announced today.

The move by the Australian government to allow student visa applicants to use the 'Test of English as a Foreign Language' (TOEFL) test when demonstrating English language ability is one that will be of interest to anyone looking to apply for skilled Australia immigration. 

One of the changes to the skilled immigration application process that is set to be implemented on 1 July with the new Australian points test is that all skilled migrants will be required to take an English language test. Under existing rules, only test results from the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) are permitted and applicants are only required to take it if they need to demonstrate competency in English or are using the test to obtain further points. 

Students have also had to use the IELTS testing system but along with the introduction of TOEFL, Mr. Bowen has said he expects the Pearson Test of English Academic and the Cambridge English: Advanced Tests schemes to receive official recognition for student visas later this year. 

"These additional English language test options will help to create competition in the English language testing market, while creating more test places for student visa applicants. They will also provide candidates with greater choice and enable them to more quickly obtain test results needed for visa applications'' he said. 

Mr Bowen went to suggest that other visa categories could eventually open up to competition between English language tests, although he would look closely at how the new tests perform with student visas first. 

Source   http://www.visabureau.com/australia/news/20-05-2011/alternative-english-language-tests-added-for-australian-student-visa-applicants.aspx

Whether a big Australia or small, immigration can't be ignored

The issue of population has been a contentious one as Australians have heard one leader extol the virtues of a "big Australia" (Kevin Rudd), while his successor, Julia Gillard, shrank from the term and added sustainability to the population minister's portfolio.

Now, that minister, Tony Burke, has released a report on population that is short and contains a glaring omission — meaningful discussion of immigration's role in population growth.

Based upon the immigration intake and previous projections by Treasury, Australia's population is likely to increase to about 36 million by 2050. Yet, the report, Sustainable Australia - Sustainable Communities, makes no mention of any number.

Burke has argued that it is impossible to set population targets, given the variety of factors that can inform population growth. But demographers at the University of Queensland have recently argued that even if we do not set targets, we can, and should, project population ranges. They project that our population in 2050 will be between 29 and 43 million and that there is a 50 per cent likelihood it will be more than 36 million.

Immigration is a big part of the picture here, and one of the few areas of population growth that government can seek to control. It is vital that we consider how immigration fits into the picture.

The report avoids discussion of immigration, most likely because of the political sensitivities around the issue. Just two of the 82 pages of Burke's report are dedicated to the subject. In doing so, it fails to address the importance of immigration, in particular temporary immigration, for population growth. Although it cannot predict the future, government can project, albeit within large margins of error, how much immigration contributes to overall population growth. Net overseas migration is the net gain or loss of population through immigration and emigration. In a report last year, the Productivity Commission said that in 2008/9, this contributed 65 per cent to population growth. Compare this to 1979-80 when it was just 30 per cent.

Some of this growth in net overseas migration related to Australians returning, but the vast majority was a result of increases in temporary migration, in particular increases in international students in recent years. Yet the title "temporary migration" is a bit of a misnomer – in recent years about one-third of international students have changed over to permanent visas following completion of their studies.

Whether international students will continue to add to long-term population growth depends very much on the effectiveness of attempts by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, to decouple tertiary education from immigration selection. The new points test for skilled immigration, to be released in July 2012, emphasises extensive work experience and high levels of education, rather than defining preferred skills according to a Migration Occupations in Demand List. This list, which was expanded by the Howard government, motivated some international students to enrol in courses that scored highly and contributed to oversupply into the permanent general skilled migration category. The new test appears to reduce this link and thereby, potentially, alleviate long-term pressures on population growth presented by international students.

Nonetheless, Bowen faces a number of new pressure points that could continue to contribute to population growth in the future. The first relates to those 40,000 students visa who applied under the old points test and whose applications for permanent residency are pending. Legal challenges by these students are being contemplated to expedite processing. If successful, these students would gain permanent residency to Australia and would enjoy rights of family reunification, as all permanent residents do, and should.

The second pressure point relates to the budget announcements for an increase in the number of temporary worker visas (457s) and new Enterprise Migration Agreements for "mega resource projects" with capital expenditure of more than $2 million and with more than 1500 workers. It appears that these Enterprise Migration Agreements will be used to bring in migrants, including semi-skilled migrants, who might not otherwise be eligible under 457 visas.

What do these changes mean for population growth? It is important to remember that any migrant who spends 12 out of 16 months in Australia is counted towards the figures for net overseas migration, thereby contributing to the current population size in the short-term.

Even if international student immigration declines in the long-term, will the immigration associated with the Mining Boom Mark II contribute to long-term permanent migration? Although this migration is temporary, there may be opportunities to move onto permanent visas. At present, about half of 457 visa holders move on to permanent residency.

And while we do not yet know the details of the Enterprise Migration Agreements, we do know from experience with semi-skilled guest worker systems in other countries that real temporary migration is difficult to achieve. Given the opportunity to come to Australia, semi-skilled workers may wish to stay. They may search for other visas, or illegal means, to remain.

When the 2010 Intergenerational Report projected that Australia's population would rise to about 36 million by 2050, it was based upon projections of a net overseas migration rate of 180,000 per year. The budget papers make it clear that permanent immigration into Australia in 2011-2012 will be about 185,000. This figure does not include temporary migration from students or short-term business migration. These figures should have been included by Burke in his report.

While the government cannot predict the future, it can make projections, and open discussion about likely net overseas migration is an important part of this conversation. It should have been a central part of Burke's report.

Source   http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/whether-a-big-australia-or-small-immigration-cant-be-ignored-20110523-1f0c8.html