Page 7 - ELG1705 May Issue 447

NEWS

VISA CLAMPDOWN WILL ENGLISH

LANGUAGE
HAVE ‘PERVERSE OUTCOME’ BOOM IN IRELAND

By: Claudia Civinini
By: Claudia Civinini The 457 visa is a temporary work visa that Ireland saw an 11 per cent rise in the
Australia’s plans to make it tougher to gain work allows migrants in certain occupational catego- number of international English language
visas or claim citizenship in the country have led ries to be sponsored by their employers for up to students in 2016, figures show.
to angry reactions from universities and refugee four years. This is ‘hugely significant’ as it comes
campaign groups. Many holders go on to become permanent on the back of strong growth in 2015,
Australian universities say plans to axe the residents. The main sponsoring industry is said David O’Grady, chief executive of
457 visa for skilled migrants could prevent them ‘professional, scientific and technical’. language school association Marketing
from recruiting post-doctoral research fellows According to the latest figures, around 2,000 English in Ireland (MEI).
and lecturers from abroad. university lecturers hold the visa. Student numbers increased from
And a new diktat that citizenship will only be From March 2018, the 457 will be scrapped 107,129 in 2015 to 119,119 last year.
granted to those with an Ielts level 6 or higher and two new temporary visa programmes will There was significant growth in junior
could unfairly impact people with refugee back- take its place: a two-year visa with no pathway (under sixteen years old) students from
grounds, campaigners say. to residency and a four-year visa. the EU, which supplies approximately
Leading universities have warned that the Universities are concerned that a new re- 78 per cent of all enrolments to English
move to remove the 457 visa could have the quirement to have two years’ prior work experi- language schools in the country. Only 7
‘perverse outcome’ of putting jobs at risk in the ence will exclude post-doctoral research fellows. per cent of students came from countries
country’s $21.8 billion international education Those in the ‘university lecturer’ category will that require a visa, such as China and
industry. only be eligible for the shorter work visa. Saudi Arabia.
The Group of Eight association of re- New requirements for citizenship, which will Another area of growth for the Irish
search-intensive universities added that it mean immigrants will need a higher standard of ELT sector is Latin America. In three
could be damaging to clamp down on academic English to qualify, will have an impact on appli- years, the country has seen a 400 per
mobility ‘especially at a time when there are cants from a refugee background, the Refugee cent increase in the number of students
opportunities for recruitment from the US and Council of Australia said. coming from Argentina, Colombia and
UK.’ New regulations say applicants must have at Chile.
least a band 6 on Ielts, which may be difficult to The International Education Strategy
reach for people with fragmented or incomplete for Ireland 2016–2020, published by
Ielts education. the Ministry for Education, sets goals to
6 citizenship test only three target and develop new markets outside
Applicants will also be allowed to sit the
of the EU.
times, and residency
‘If we are to achieve the targets
Minimum standard 2,000 requirements prior to outlined in the government strategy
application have been
2016–2020 for ELT, then we need to
university
of English required lecturers in increased from one to devote energy and expertise to areas for
four years.
growth, most of which lie in markets that
for Australian Australia hold the are visa-requiring for Ireland,’ O’Grady
added.
citizenship 457 visa The ELT industry is worth €762
million per year to the Irish economy.

ENGLISH NATIVE SPEAKER PILOTS ALSO

TO BLAME FOR NEAR MISSES IN THE SKIES

By: Claudia Civinini
on language tests could be taking place in
Failure to comply with Aviation English some instances. However, the report paints
standards by both native and non-native a picture that is far from the simplistic
speaker pilots and air traffic controllers has ‘blame it on the foreign pilots’ poor English
led to some frightening near misses, a new proficiency’.
independent report has found. The core of the issue, the report reveals, is
The research, commissioned by the UK that Aviation English is a lingua franca, and
Civil Aviation Authority and carried out by native English speakers who fail to comply
linguist Dr Barbara Clark, examines reports with its standards can be just as dangerous as
of language-related miscommunication non-native English speakers. According to
incidents. It lists a series of recommendations Dr Clark, both native and non-native English
aimed at improving the standards and use speakers should undergo the same training
of Aviation English, the lingua franca of the and testing (see page 27 for more).
skies. A spokesperson from the Civil Aviation
Although flying remains the safest way to Authority said, ‘We will be studying this
travel, miscommunication is a safety hazard: research in detail and will work with ICAO
the report describes some instances where it (International Civil Aviaton Organisation),
has led to near misses. On rarer occasions it other international regulators and the wider
was the main cause of an accident. aviation industry on any required actions that
Dr Clark also found evidence that cheating can help enhance safety standards.’

editorial@elgazette.com 7

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