Visa regulations that restrict access to Australian jobs are having a perverse effect on the choices made by visiting international students...

That's according to Associate Professor Alison Owens, Director of CQUniversity's International Education Research Centre, who says international graduates often need work experience to ensure a good job on return to their home country.

Associate Professor Alison Owens

"A student who may have no intention of remaining permanently in Australia is forced to apply for skilled migration so they can get a job in their field before returning to their home country," she said.

Writing in the Australian Council for Educational Leaders e-newsletter this month, Dr Owens says worldwide competition for skilled graduates is likely to intensify.

"Yet Australia, anxious about the nexus between higher education and skilled migration, has recently tightened international student visa regulations and skilled migration resulting in a dramatic downturn in the numbers of international students applying to study here," she says.

"A logical flow-on effect is fewer skilled migrants available to local industry, which already struggles to recruit adequate talent in engineering, construction, health and business. Indeed, such skill shortages are deemed to threaten benefits gained from the boom in commodity process that Australia currently enjoys."

Dr Owens' comments coincided with Queensland Premier Bligh securing support from the States and Territories for three-year working visas for international graduates in areas of skills shortages.

Ms Bligh said states and territories have asked the Commonwealth to evaluate this idea to arrest the slide in student numbers.

Dr Owens notes the Shanghai Education Commission recently reported that Chinese employers are stressing the need for graduates with work experience and recommends that universities work harder to provide internships and practical experience.

"The critical requirement, then, for an Australian international graduate, whether they plan to stay in Australia or return home, is work experience related to their discipline of study. The perceived value of an overseas qualification in the home economy is significantly diminished without this workplace experience and competence.

"Here is the catch, international students and graduates struggle to get skilled work in their discipline in Australian organisations unless they can provide some tenure for Australian employers. This pretty much requires a residency application.

"Recent interviews with 15 Indian female graduates of Australian university business programs indicated that all of them intended to repatriate in the medium or long-term but not until they have a few years of Australian work experience which they perceive as unachievable without permanent residency."

Dr Owens hopes the Knight review of student visa regulations will provide some positive news for international education in Australia and suggest some strategies for enhancing work integrated learning, internships and industry connections that are so critical to young professionals in the global workforce.