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This is a very interesting breakdown by Richard Curtain and Stephen Howes of the current situation with student visas and their funding sources. However, there is a fundamental issue that I would like to interrogate insofar as the evidence applies to aid-funded scholarships. Threaded through the analysis is the view that private and aid-funded students represent a suitable pool for migration of skilled workers to Australia. This is no doubt true, but there is a major developmental impact for developing countries that become, in effect, donors filling gaps in Australia's professional workforce. Whether donor or recipient countries benefit more from aid scholarships is a long-standing issue, but perhaps not one that has changed fundamentally in the last 20 years. In 2002, I wrote an analysis of the opportunity cost to Papua New Guinea's universities of Australian aid scholarships (available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274529990). The estimate was that if the funding applied to the then annual average of 375 scholarships for study in Australia (at a unit cost around A$28,600 in 2000) were applied to scholarships for teacher education students at the University of Goroka (with a unit cost of A$6,9000), the effect would have been to increase UOG student numbers by 270%, from 920 to 2510, increase the UOG budget from K15.0 million to K41.0 million, and increase Australian award numbers (and their potential for goodwill) from 375 to 2510. Developmentally, this could have allowed UOG to meet the shortfall of badly needed secondary and technical teachers in PNG by increasing annual output by some 500 a year. In goodwill terms, it could have multiplied the number of Australian award recipients 6.7 times. Instead, within Australia, the real effect of aid scholarships was to provide even then an outmoded, unnecessary and regressive subsidy for its universities to compete against their developing country counterparts. Scholarships might generate goodwill but private students can carry home the good news at their own expense. In educational terms, it could be argued that the standard of teacher education programmes in Australia justified the overseas study. Certainly, my observation then, as Foundation Professor of Education at UOG, was that some of the student grades given were remarkably generous, but the bottom line was that the pass standard provided graduates competent to apply their skills within the PNG system. Thus, the counterargument was that the relevance of the UOG training was much higher (especially, in my jaundiced view, given the propensity of Australian universities to imbue their overseas students with often culturally-irrelevant educational theories and practices). A constructive alternative in the long-term interests of Australian universities was to support their developing country counterparts with substantive partnerships based on complementary skills and functions that stood to bolster the capabilities of the overseas partners and position Australian universities to capture with them a share of large home markets. Of course, that analysis may be deemed to be well out-of-date, so it would be interesting to learn from Richard and Stephen or others how current aid programme activities do, or do not, deal with the issues raised.

Hi Charlotte! I'm interested in the data for Fig 2, I tried to follow the link but the page is no longer there. Any chance that you can lead me to it?

What is expected in the up coming Mini Budget on March 17th, 2022?

My understanding is that Tonga's sole international communication cable has now been repaired and services are being restored today. This should make it much easier for seasonal workers in Australia and New Zealand to communicate with loved ones in Tonga. The following story by Radio New Zealand contains details: https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/462052/the-southern-cross-cable-that-connects-tonga-to-the-outside-world-is-fixed

Thanks, Chris. It is so good to hear your comments here. I will get in touch with you - it has been ages since our IDSS days. 🙂

Thank you, Clare, for your feedback. I agree with you - those of us who could continue to be working in international aid during this pandemic can consider ourselves lucky. It was tough but worth the extra effort to keep doing what we feel so passionate about.

Thank you, Kevin, for your feedback. This constant uncertainty indeed takes a toll but it often gets unnoticed. We hope we can move to the endemic stage soon and have some sense of normalcy back in our lives.

I really appreciated your insights, Atiq. A window into your world. I hope your family is coping . Always concerned for their well-being was hard for me.

Hi there, could you please say why people of Kiribati were not include in RSE workers to New Zealand.

Tankyu tumas Charlotte, this is a well-written snapshot of the complexities and opportunities for Pacific labour mobility during COVID, at the individual and national levels. Balancing economic opportunity, equity in vaccine access AND evolving border measures for our Pacific island states, whilst also safeguarding Pacific worker targets & commitments within the wider labour mobility sending markets during a pandemic is a huge task for NZ's Reset.

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Well do Gentlemen...our democracy is very much alive but certainly not well hence less political parties would be great concept to create stability and good governance and service delivery in our beloved nation by our elected MPs. Thanks