Thousands of students waiting to travel to Australia to study may be able to travel by July.
Highlights:
- Prime minister has released a three-stage "road map" to re-open Australia
- Step 3 will look at considering international student travel
- International students are ‘willing and waiting’ to return to Australia, says education agent
Revealing the ‘Roadmap to a COVIDSafe Australia’, Prime Minister Scott Morrison laid out a three-step pathway for easing restrictions across the country, which includes considering international student travel.
"Today, we move ahead with reopening our economy and our society, with a clear plan, and a clear framework, that shows Australians the road ahead," Mr Morrison said.
International student travel is part of step-three of this plan, which he hopes the country will be able to reach around July.
ROADMAP TO A COVIDSafe AUSTRALIA
Source: Supplied
“The pace though will be totally up to states and territories. They will be responsible for setting their own timetable and communicating that to their citizens and residents in their own states and territories,” Mr Morrison said.
“Premiers and Chief Ministers have asked me to stress that there will be no expectation of step one starting on day one unless they are already there. Moving on these steps will take some preparation.”
“International students stuck abroad are willing and waiting to travel to Australia”
Opening universities to allow face-to-face interactions and hands-on, skills-based learning feature prominently at every stage in the government’s framework to return to work.
“This is great news as international students stuck abroad are waiting to travel to Australia,” says Melbourne-based registered education agent Bina Shah.
Source: Supplied
Ms Shah says many international students from India have not been able to return after Australia shut down its border to temporary migrants.
“This morning, I had three calls from students who are stuck and waiting to return. They all are willing and waiting to come back to Australia,” Ms Shah said.
“While cases are increasing in India, we have handled COVID-19 very well in Australia. That too has increased their confidence to return to Australia,” she adds.
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