Last year, Jobs and Skills Australia released a report entitled Apprenticeships: a missing pathway for international students? This was in response to the Australian Government’s Migration Strategy, released in December 2023, which undertook to examine the barriers preventing international students from completing an apprenticeship (or traineeship).
Addressing skills shortages has always been an objective of Australia’s migration strategies, and many of the country’s skills shortages are in skilled trades. With national economic priorities that currently include increasing the availability of housing and expanding our defence manufacturing capability, the demand for workers in some of these trades is expected to increase.
The JSA uncovered a number of barriers for international students, the number one being that currently they are ineligible. State and territory Governments decide eligibility for apprenticeships, and most of them restrict eligibility to Australian citizens or permanent residents, with a couple of minor exceptions. None allow those on a student visa to participate.
Other barriers identified by JSA include current visa settings which do not allow students to work full time hours, or restrict the period a person can work with one employer, or limit the time a person can stay in Australia to less than a standard apprenticeship duration. Minimum English language requirements can also be a barrier.
However, some international students are already studying trade-related Certificate III qualifications without signing onto an apprenticeship. They pay the full cost of the training, without the usual government contribution, and many will seek work in Australia after they graduate. But they will not have the same skills level as somebody who has completed the same qualification through an apprenticeship, and it is unclear which occupations they transition to.
One group of Certificate III trade qualifications specifically excludes students undertaking the program outside of an apprenticeship. These are those in engineering trades including fitting, mechanical, maintenance, boilermaking and welding. This was intended to provide certainty to employers that holders of the qualifications had completed an apprenticeship, and to ensure that students were not exploited by training providers with little interest in their future employment prospects.
Many employers struggle to fill apprenticeship vacancies. In April 2024, JSA released as part of their monthly Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey a spotlight report focusing on employers’ experiences of recruiting apprentices. They focused on three industry sectors - Construction, Manufacturing and Other Services (covering a diverse range including automotive repair and maintenance as well as hair and beauty services). Of those industries, 55% of employers in the Manufacturing industry experienced recruitment difficulty, followed by 51% for the Other Services industry. On the other hand, it was considerably easier for employers in the Construction industry (32%) to fill their apprenticeship vacancies.
Is it time to open apprenticeships up to international students? Will this help ease recruitment pressures?
Changing the eligibility of international students is not a simple task. There are many complexities to consider. How would the probation period affect an international apprentice’s visa if they were let go? What scrutiny would there be over exploitation by an unscrupulous employer? How would a training system struggling to employ trade teachers for those already in the system be able to cope with an influx of new apprentices? Would an employer invest in an apprentice who may well leave the country as soon as they graduate?
We would love to hear your views on this. Please send them to cet@aigroup.com.au
