The Victoria government said its plan will provide for the staged and safe return of international students.
"We will present our Student Arrivals Plan to the Commonwealth shortly," a Victoria government spokesperson told SBS Hindi.
The state is currently battling with a surge in daily COVID cases. On Thursday, it recorded 1,638 new locally acquired cases and two further deaths.
Highlights:
- Victoria to shortly submit its plan to the federal government
- International students could start arriving from December: Universities Australia
- International students call the plan 'too little, too late'
Universities Australia Chief Executive Catriona Jackson said Victorian universities had been working with the state government to develop a plan for the safe return of international students.
"We are very hopeful this plan will come to fruition once approved by the Commonwealth and Victoria – like New South Wales – will be able to gradually welcome back students from December this year," Ms Jackson said.
International student Nitin Narang says students enrolled with Victorian universities are 'desperately waiting' for the state government to allow them to return to Australia.
Universities Australia Chief Executive Catriona Jackson. Source: Supplied by Universities Australia
"We saw some reports suggesting Victoria will allow only 120 students per week. That's a tiny number considering the number of international students currently stranded in India and other countries," Mr Narang told SBS Hindi.
"It's too little and too late. The government should immediately open up international travel for all fully vaccinated students. We are fully vaccinated and prepared for quarantine arrangements," Mr Narang said.
Mr Narang has received two jabs of the Australian government-approved Covishield vaccine in India. He had travelled to his home in India's northern state of Punjab just before the start of the pandemic to get a driving licence.
Mr Narang, a postgraduate student with a business school in Melbourne, said he has completed three semesters online and is not hopeful of making it back to the Australian shores before the expiry of his student visa.
Universities Australia says about 70 per cent (78,082) of Chinese students and 32 per cent (15,825) of Indian students in the higher education and postgraduate research sector were outside of Australia as of 13 September 2021.
"Victorian universities contributed just over $6 billion to Victoria's international education export income in 2020, and more than $8 billion the year prior," Ms Jackson said.
"These students make significant economic and cultural contributions to Australian life, and universities across the country stand ready to welcome them back to campus," she added.
Victoria government's proposal to the federal government comes on the close heels of Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Dan Tehan's recent announcement in India that international students could return to Australia before the beginning of the new semester in February.
"As Minister Tehan said in New Delhi on 1 October, the Prime Minister's announcement on the provides a pathway for Indian international students to return to Australia. Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration has also now recognised India's Covishield vaccine for travel," a DFAT spokesperson told SBS Hindi.
