tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post1729295177535507874..comments2024-03-28T09:22:36.967+13:00Comments on Offsetting Behaviour: Student Visas revisitedEric Cramptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15831696523324469713noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-13103012095724315442015-02-07T17:55:55.534+13:002015-02-07T17:55:55.534+13:00This is a great idea.
I run a tech-economy discus...This is a great idea.<br /><br />I run a tech-economy discussion group in Auckland called the Moxie Sessions. Sean Simpson from Lanzatech came along eighteen months or so ago suggesting something similar to your idea. See the writeup here:<br /><br />http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/where-smart-people-are-role-immigration-tech-economy-dc-p-152080<br /><br />And I know Raf Manji is talking about similar stuff in Christchurch:<br /><br />http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/perspective/9029433/Enticing-Generation-We-to-Christchurch<br /><br />As a long-term policy though, what I reckon would be better is a system where these types of visas were like working holiday schemes, i.e., they were reciprocal as between governments. In return for us allowing in qualified young people without too many conditions, we could open the doors to the same opportunity for young New Zealanders to go overseas. Helps to diversify New Zealand's links with the world beyond Bondi, Queensland and Shepherd's Bush: the most important places for us in the future are China, other parts of Asia, and the USA, places that we can not easily do more than visit.<br /><br />As a practical matter, we could start making these arrangements with countries where New Zealand already has an uncapped working holiday regime.whereishaydennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-90242377024012952522015-01-29T20:23:11.629+13:002015-01-29T20:23:11.629+13:00The way I'd imagined this running was that Imm...The way I'd imagined this running was that Immigration would certify majors and degrees at Universities for the programme. They'd have to provide stats to maintain certification, including on graduate outcomes. So Universities would only put up those programmes where they expected good graduate placement and would exercise some caution in admission standards.Eric Cramptonhttp://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-28341876565242956742015-01-29T16:27:19.296+13:002015-01-29T16:27:19.296+13:00This idea is worth exploring but the 3 big issues ...This idea is worth exploring but the 3 big issues for me are employer bias, graduate skill deficiencies and likely aberrant behaviour by unis.<br /><br />Employer bias is a key one, as the visa process is probably less of an issue than all sorts of discriminatory behaviours (some reasonable, some not) by employers that may rule out international grads. This afternoon I was reading the following Australian report that is a good read (if long) http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/src/crefi/documents/international-graduates-employment.pdf<br /><br /><br /><br />International graduate skill deficiencies are quite real - many grads still have poor English, or soft skills, or maybe haven't been trained that well for the labour market in the first place.<br /><br /><br />Aberrant behaviour is less likely at unis than at other providers, but it still happens. Australia is awash with foreign accountancy grads who won't be employed by anyone in Australia, but the uni programmes are still marketed hard. The UK cracked down last year on some UK universities running fairly useless programmes in London.<br /><br /><br />Overall, I think there's a high risk of creating a bubble effect here where we have more students come in but they're not then employed when they graduate, leading on to a bust. The underlying issue is whether international students can be better integrated into the local market. When demand for international student graduates starts to exceed supply, then there would be a much better case for your solution. At the moment, grad supply exceeds employer demand. Your proposal might well improve allocative efficiency, but the supply increase might swamp that effect.Dave Guerinnoreply@blogger.com