News and Opportunities
Growing interest in Australia as an education destination
22 Jun 2012
Interest in Australia as an education destination is increasing according to the Austrade office in Pakistan, as is the need for quality agents. As part of its broader engagement strategy for working with offshore education agents, agents in a number of tier two cities in Pakistan have been provided with an update on Australian education during a recent visit by Austrade.
Austrade is proactively visiting tier two cities in Pakistan to provide training and guidance to existing agents as well as to engage with new agents. The visit to Sargodha, Faisalabad, Lahore and Gujraanwala enabled Austrade to learn more about the agents in these cities, and observe how they operate and what office structures they have.
As part of its training, Austrade Pakistan presented an overview on visa policy changes, guidance in working with Australian institutions, and referred them to the PIER Online Education Agent Training Course (EATC). Austrade Pakistan is now invigilating the formal assessment for the EATC by Pakistan-based agents; previously agents were only able to access the assessment by travelling to Dubai.
The visit also coincided with the presentation by Austrade of the EATC certificate to an agent in Sargodha following their successful completion of the test in the Austrade Islamabad office.
Austrade recommends institutions alert their Pakistani agents to the invigilation service offered by Austrade to ensure they are keeping up to date with changing visa and institution regulations.