March 22, 2013

IRU OS-HELP submission

The “Government’s Higher Education Support Amendment (Asian Century) Bill 2013”, amends the Higher Education Support Act (2003) to improve OS-HELP, by expanding eligible activities and the OSHELP loan amount, to encourage more students to undertake study experiences in Asia.

These amendments support the Government’s AsiaBound annual grants program which is offering 3,500 grants to Australian students to participate in a study experience in Asia.
The IRU welcomes the focus on increasing the number of students undertaking study and related activities in Asia in preference to other parts of the world. We support the amendments, with some clarification sought around the language learning component.

Download a PDF of the IRU’s full submission.