据澳洲首选留学网·悉尼获知，澳洲即将允许国际学生毕业后留澳工作三年。
根据最近的新闻报道，澳大利亚各州及各领地政府希望在技术工人紧缺的地区，实行新的三年期外国毕业生工作签证。
昆州州长白莉（Anna Bligh）表示，她把这个问题提交到上周周五在堪培拉举行的澳洲政府理事会（Council of Australian Governments）议事日程上，并成功地获得各州各领地的支持。
她发表声明说：”澳洲正处于资源业发展的顶峰，我们正面对技术工人紧缺危机。我们不应该让那些愿意填补这些职位的热忱年轻工人感到泄气。”
未来几年，单是资源部门就能创造3.8万个职位。另外，护理，工程师，会计等部门也预计会有大量的职位空缺等待澳洲大学毕业生去填补。
如果此举成行，首选留学网预计赴澳留学人数将增长20%-30%。并且目前已经在澳洲就读相关专业课程的同学将会直接受惠。
首选留学网将会持续关注此新闻，并在第一时间向大家公布更多留学信息！
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附1：澳洲紧缺职业列表
附2：《海峡时报》的英文原文全文
SYDNEY: Foreign students in Australia could be allowed to stay on and work for three years after graduation to provide skilled workers for the country’s booming mining industry.
Under the plan, graduates with university or higher level vocational qualifications in a range of specialties would be offered work visas.
The proposal, backed by state and territory leaders last week and awaiting approval by the federal government, aims to recruit engineers for the mines as well as supporting positions such as lawyers, accountants, architects and IT and hospitality staff. It could also be used to fill shortages of medical staff in rural areas.
Australia has struggled to cope with strong demand for skilled workers in and around the mining sector, with Federal Immigration Minister Chris Bowen admitting last month there ‘will not be enough Australian workers to get the job done’.
The mining boom, fuelled by Chinese demand for raw materials, is expected to lead to a shortage of 36,000 workers by 2015.
Right now, foreign students completing courses in Australia are not entitled to stay, though they can apply for a permanent skilled worker’s visa in a limited number of sectors, or for an 18-month visa for graduates.
To fill the gap, the state leaders last week endorsed a new class of working visas for graduates at a meeting in Canberra. Officials hope the three-year visas will also make Australia, which has lost some of its lustre as a magnet for students from around Asia, a more attractive place to study.
The move was backed by leaders from both sides of politics in all states and territories, including areas that are not part of the mining boom. The Premier of New South Wales, Mr Barry O’Farrell, said the visas could help to address a drastic shortage of doctors in the state’s rural areas.
Mr Bowen said the government will consider the proposal as part of a review of international student visas due next month. He has already changed the skilled migration programme to target skills required by the mining industry and speed up visa processing.
Mr Edgar Tan, 26, who is studying nursing at La Trobe University in Melbourne, said he would like to stay on and work, given the opportunity.
‘This is a really, really good proposal because not only would it give Singaporeans a taste of what it is like to study abroad, it also gives them a taste of what it is like to work abroad,’ Mr Tan said.
Mr Sherman Wong, a 23-year-old Singaporean studying mechanical engineering at the University of Western Australia in Perth, said he had many Singaporean friends who wanted to stay and work in Australia. ‘The pay is better here and the life is also a lot more relaxed than Singapore,’ he said.
But Mr Wong, who has completed the first year of his three-year course, said he would go home after graduation ‘because my family is there’.
The visa proposal is also designed to reverse plummeting enrolment in the international education sector, worth more than A$18 billion (S$22billion) annually. Thanks to a rising dollar, plus concerns about the quality of vocational colleges and a series of attacks on Indian students, foreign enrolments at Australian education providers have dropped 8.7 per cent in the past year to 386,314 students, according to figures released by the government.
Higher education numbers bucked the trend, with a 3.6 per cent rise to to 202,112 students, but universities are bracing themselves for big drops at the start of the new academic year next February.
Enrolments across the board from India though, have fallen more than 30per cent. Amid this downturn, the Gillard government is keen make changes so international students do not go elsewhere, such as the United Kingdom and the United States. The government review of student visas, by a former New South Wales minister, Mr Michael Knight, is already considering removing a requirement that students and their dependants work no more than 20 hours a week.
The federal Department of Resources told the review that the 400,000-plus international students in Australia spend more than A$6 billion each year on fees and living expenses, and that removing the 20-hour cap would help the sector attract more students. ‘(This) would not only help to address Australia’s current and forecast labour and skills needs, but also provide Australia with a distinct marketing advantage over our international competitors,’ it said.
Mr Tan, the nursing student, said one potential drawback to the visa plan is that people might not want to leave after three years.
‘When Singaporean students first arrive here they do get a bit homesick, but after a while they start to really like Australia and the lifestyle here, which is more laid back; and there is less stress,’ said Mr Tan, who is founder of the Singapore Students’ Society of La Trobe University.
He also worries about a backlash from some Australians.
‘Some poorer Australians might feel like foreigners are taking away their jobs and there is still a problem with a small minority of Australians who are racist, especially towards Indians, so this could affect them.’