The $110,000 grant to Redfern Legal Centre, in inner Sydney, will keep its international student service afloat for another year. It is the second government bailout for the state’s only specialist legal service for overseas students, after a cash crisis brought it to the brink of closure a year ago.
The money comes from StudyNSW, which was set up in 2014 to help attract international students and improve their experiences. A dedicated unit in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, it has carriage of the state’s 10-year international education strategy.
The agency has also granted $110,000 to a scheme which arranges work experience for 400 overseas students in NSW government departments, private companies and nonprofits.
Funding is also going to the University of New England to establish a referral service for the region’s international students, and to the International Education Association of Australia to encourage employers to hire overseas students as staff. Another grant to the University of Technology Sydney will allow it to improve a program aimed at boosting international students’ entrepreneurial skills and employability.
Redfern’s international student service helped more than 300 people last financial year, mainly on employment, accommodation and visa issues. Solicitor Sean Stimson said the service was running at capacity, with clients generally forced to wait a week or two for appointments.
“We know we’re not capturing everybody,” Mr Stimson said. “The clients we’re seeing are really just the tip of the iceberg.”
Client flow is set to increase after the government last month piloted direct referrals through Service NSW, the state’s one-stop shop for things like driving licences, birth certificates, and seniors cards.
RLC is the only non-government service receiving referrals in this way, in what Mr Stimson described as a “triage” arrangement. “The staff ask questions of the client base coming in, and those questions are probing enough that they’d be able to identify (when) there’s something more in that client’s issues.”
NSW Trade Minister Stuart Ayres said overseas students warranted an “integrated” approach to meet their needs. “We have to do more than rely on our institutions to attract students. It’s also about other services, to ensure (they) are supported outside the classroom.”
By John Ross, The Australian.
