00:07:16 · Martijn van de Veen
[00:07:16] S3: Diversification with a capital d. The rise of postgraduate education in China was one of those trends indeed. India at its peak. The other three trends they identify, one was the increasing appeal of UK as a study destination. The second one was the return of Trump. Third one, eastward shift in student mobility. And both topics that we just discussed are described in more detail on ICEF Monitor, so I suggest anyone interested in more detail do take a look. There's some very interesting articles. Now another big topic of change, change is really the constant here, is the increasing student visa rejection rates and how that impacts schools and agents. And that is our main topic this month.
00:07:59 · S5, S2
[00:07:59] S5: Exciting new developments from our industry leading training and certification arm, ICEF Academy, means it's even easier for international student recruitment agents to stay compliant with global standards of best practice whilst putting the interests of the student first. Our new certification course, Ethical Selling for Agents and Counselors, developed in partnership with Edified, equips agents with the skills to align their practices with the highest ethical standards and builds stronger relationships with students to ensure the best possible study outcomes. We're also delighted to introduce Train Your Agents, a new compliance driven agent training platform enabling institutions to deliver training and assessment consistently and at scale. To find out more about these developments and how ICEF Academy is raising professional standards in international education, visit isef.comacademy. [00:09:05] S2: Up next, the main topic of
00:09:14 · Martijn van de Veen
[00:09:14] S3: The rapid rise in student visa rejection rates across prominent study destinations has a major impact not just on the students, but equally on the schools and agencies handling their recruitment. Higher rejection rates have resulted in new pre paid student fee management policies within the sector in response to the increased financial pressures on both schools and agents. Now it appears that higher rejection rates have also contributed to some high profile school and agency closures in recent months, partly because schools and agencies relied on projected visa approval rates, all of which underscores how uncertainty around visa processing affects our sector and its stakeholders. In this episode's main topic, we will take a closer look at the challenges in the visa process, such as processing delays and rejection rates, and explore their impact on educators, agents, and students. We'll also discuss insights and best practices to mitigate the risks associated with visa processing uncertainties. Joining myself and Craig for this discussion are Michal Sestak, Managing Director and Principal Migration Agent at AustraliaOnline and Shawn Silverstone, director international marketing and recruitment at Coquitlam School District in British Columbia, Canada. Gentlemen, welcome. Great to have you on this episode on this very, very important topic. Guess the best way to start is always with a brief introduction of yourself, and perhaps you can also highlight a little bit your affinity and experience with today's topic. So Shawn, may I start with you?
00:10:45 · Shawn Silverstone, Martijn van de Veen
[00:10:45] S1: Thank you, Martijn. So my name, yes, is Shawn Silverstone. I'm the of international marketing recruitment for the Coquitlam School District located in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. School District is about thirty minutes from Downtown Vancouver, and we've had a history of, supporting international students since 1999 as part of the school district. Myself, I've worked in the sector for over twenty years, working at a public post secondary school and, two public, k to 12 institutions as well. I have a definite, love for international education, having many friends around the world that I've met as part of this job and really so love supporting students and seeing their ability to come and be part of the Canadian education system and then thrive and hearing about their success stories in the future is always a wonderful part of this job. So thank you again for allowing me to be part of this important topic. [00:11:40] S3: Wonderful. Thank you so much. I think we share that love for international education. Don't we, Michal?
00:11:40 · Martijn van de Veen, Michal Sestak
[00:11:40] S3: Wonderful. Thank you so much. I think we share that love for international education. Don't we, Michal? [00:11:46] S0: Yes. We we... Yes. We do. Good morning from Whistler, Canada at the moment on my holidays. As Martijn already mentioned, my name is Michal Sestak. I'm the, managing director and principal migration agent at AustraliaOnline. I'm also board member of ICEF, which is an education agent association in Australia. And we're working a lot with Australian government on obviously the topics of international education. I became an education agent in 1993 and in 2001 completed the Korean migration law and obviously became migration agent and been working in that field ever since. We have offices across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia. I'm very passionate about the international education because I believe that every person has the right for education and education is what's going to propel the humanity, our humanity and society to the next level. I think education plays a pivotal role in that. So thank you guys for having me here today, and I'll be happy to share all my expertise from the last two years, but also from the last thirty years.
00:11:46 · Michal Sestak, Martijn van de Veen
[00:11:46] S0: Yes. We we... Yes. We do. Good morning from Whistler, Canada at the moment on my holidays. As Martijn already mentioned, my name is Michal Sestak. I'm the, managing director and principal migration agent at AustraliaOnline. I'm also board member of ICEF, which is an education agent association in Australia. And we're working a lot with Australian government on obviously the topics of international education. I became an education agent in 1993 and in 2001 completed the Korean migration law and obviously became migration agent and been working in that field ever since. We have offices across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia. I'm very passionate about the international education because I believe that every person has the right for education and education is what's going to propel the humanity, our humanity and society to the next level. I think education plays a pivotal role in that. So thank you guys for having me here today, and I'll be happy to share all my expertise from the last two years, but also from the last thirty years. [00:12:56] S3: Wonderful. Well, I'm sure Michal, we don't not only share the love, but also the passion for this industry. Now, as we're discussing visa rejection rates and other processing challenges, let's just start by painting a picture of what that is, particularly in Canada and Australia, and Michal what, what are, for you in in the case of Australia, I imagine, what are some of the main challenges and main issues, especially when you compare it to previous years? Why is this now such an important topic?