AUS-EDUCATION 2 LAST

"The disappointing thing from our point of view was
that those changes rely on a specialised occupation list being
developing and that list is still several months away from
being developed and released, which makes it very hard for
businesses to plan, makes it very hard for prospective
students to know what their options might be," Smith said.
Industry and government are desperate to restore
confidence in Australia as a safe place for quality education.
Rod Jones from the Navitas education provider said
that while there is plenty of goodwill, he feared the effort
to repair Australia's reputation is uncoordinated and a new
umbrella body should be set up for it.
"It is the third or fourth largest export industry for
this country and it seems really quite amazing that there is
not a body that's looking to try and coordinate from a
government perspective, the best possible outcome for this
country in terms of delivering both additional export dollars
but taking a view about the long-term future and strategy of
how we should best manage this industry as we move forward,"
he said.
Smith said it could be something along the lines of
Tourism Australia.
"This is a significant industry - it needs the support
and it needs the strategic approach that will see us take this
industry to the next step," he said. PTI