1

MARCH 20-22, 2013

THE FAIRMONT WATERFRONT
900 CANADA PLACE WAY
VANCOUVER, CANADA
2ND
CANADA-AUSTRALIA
ROUNDTABLE
ON FOREIGN QUALIFICATION
RECOGNITION
FOREIGN QUALIFICATION RECOGNITION IN AUSTRALIA
Backgrounder prepared by
Quinn Albaugh and F. Leslie Seidle
12 March 2013
3
L
ike many other developed countries, Australia faces a combination of long-term demographic pressures
and short-term labour market demand. For both, immigration is often conceived as part of the solution.
However, many immigrants have received their training outside Australia. Foreign-trained individuals
(who are often, though not always, immigrants) present a number of challenges for employers, professional
organizations and governments.
Employers may not always be able to compare foreign qualifcations including higher educational de-
grees, skills and work experience to more familiar domestic qualifcations. Given that Australia receives mi-
grants from more than 200 countries, it may be difcult for employers to understand the nature and stature of
potential employees qualifcations (for example, whether diploma level or degree). This uncertainty, coupled
with risk aversion, may lead employers to prefer those with domestic qualifcations.
Moreover, real diferences in training, technology and professional standards exist among countries. Of the
top 10 source countries for migration to Australia in 2012, eight were in Asia.
1
Some of these countries difer
substantially in occupational standards from Australia, which raises concerns about the quality of foreign certif-
cations. In addition, employers may be sceptical of foreign-trained individuals language skills or, in some cases,
engage in prejudicial hiring practices.
2
Foreign-trained individuals seeking to work in regulated professions face additional challenges. In these
felds, it is necessary frst to obtain some kind of certifcation from a professional organization in order to prac-
tice. These organizations often have a variety of requirements, including sometimes costly application fees,
language tests, competency assessments, degrees or work experience.
3
In addition, there are a variety of regis-
tration outcomes, ranging from conditional to unconditional (or full) registration. Certain changes to migration
selection criteria, particularly pre-migration qualifcation assessments, have been intended to remedy some of
these problems. However, selection for immigration or temporary migration does not always guarantee recog-
nition of foreign qualifcations. A conundrum remains: highly skilled professionals are prioritized for admission,
but a signifcant number cannot practice their professions within a reasonable timeframe after arrival. In felds
such as medicine and allied health, for example, only partial qualifcation assessment can be undertaken of-
shore, with clinical assessment conducted on arrival in Australia.
This problem has received considerable attention in Australia over the past few decades, supported by a
federally-led qualifcations recognition reform agenda from 1989. Although state and territory governments
4
are often responsible for regulating occupations, unlike in Canada the Commonwealth government has used
its exclusive jurisdiction over immigration to make important changes to immigrant selection policies that have
implications for qualifcation recognition. Moreover, a growing number of occupations are federally regulated
(for example engineering, accounting, medicine and all allied health felds). A large number of public and other
organizations are thus actively attempting to mitigate the difculties that immigrants face.
Mitigating the Problem through Immigration Selection
O
ne notable way of addressing the difculties with foreign qualifcation recognition has been to move to-
wards a model of immigration selection that reduces the number of people who would face difculties
having their credentials recognized. In this regard, there have been a number of policy changes, during the
past two decades, including two-step migration, the development of a list of priority occupations, employer
sponsorship and ofshore qualifcation assessments. There has also been a strong focus (dating from 1992) on
pre-migration English language testing for economic category primary applicants, beginning with 114 occu-
pations requiring English and later extended to all occupations. This section is not meant to be an exhaustive
review of these reforms, only a summary of those that are the most relevant to foreign qualifcation recognition.
The various policy changes have been underpinned by a shift to higher English-language requirements. In
1999, the Australian government dropped the previous practice of allotting points even for low levels of English
in favour of setting a minimum standard of vocational English and introduced more widespread pre-migra-
tion language testing.
4
The revamped points system put in place in July 2011 places even greater emphasis on
English language skills.
5
Higher language skills have a strong positive impact on labour market outcomes and in
professional regulators procedures leading to the right to practice.
6
Another major trend has been providing pathways to permanent residence for overseas students who gradu-
ate from Australian universities part of a broader practice of two-step migration adopted by a number of
advanced industrial democracies, including Canada.
7
Two-step migration in Australia is also available for those
in the skilled trades. One of advantage of two-step migration for students is that, by defnition, the candidates
have a domestic credential. However, former overseas students initially performed considerably worse than
ofshore applicants, in part due to problems with their English skills and cultural isolation, combined with stan-
dards problems in postsecondary degree and vocational training programs.
8
In response, the Australian gov-
ernment instituted language testing (previously not required) for former overseas students as a requirement
for selection (with few exceptions) and cracked down on organizations ofering vocational training.
9
As a result
of these changes and shifts in broader immigration priorities, the number of international students becoming
permanent residents of Australia has declined considerably since its peak in 2010 (630,000).
Employer sponsorship has also been a signifcant trend. As of the 2011-12 fscal year, 37 percent of skilled
migration stream of immigration applications (a total of 46,554 individuals) had gone through one of two em-
ployer-sponsored categories (Employer Nomination Scheme and the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme),
and the total number of migrants receiving permanent residence through these categories has more than
quadrupled since 2003-04.
10
Moreover, since 2010, these employer-sponsored categories have also had the
highest priority in application processing. Applicants under the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme em-
5
ployer-sponsored migrants intending to work in regional Australia
11
have the highest priority, while appli-
cants under the Employer Nomination Scheme are just behind.
12
The goal of employer-sponsored migration
is to ensure selected migrants better match employer requirements, including demand by feld. Although not
designed as a qualifcation recognition reform, the process of employer-migrant matching increased the likeli-
hood of migrants receiving jobs related to their prior training and qualifcations. Outcomes demonstrate a far
greater likelihood of immediate employment in skilled work, with much improved salary outcomes.
Australia has also, since 1999, developed and revised a list of occupations that have priority, based on labour
market concerns. The current version of this is the Skilled Occupations List (SOL). In 2010, Skills Australia, an
independent board composed of industry, economic and education experts
13
was established to provide the
Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) with feedback on what occupations are in demand for up-
dating the SOL. As of July 2012, all skilled migration visa applicants who are not nominated by employers or a
state or territorial government must work in an occupation on Schedule 1 on the SOL; and those who have such
a nomination must be from an occupation on Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 of the SOL.
In July 2012, Australia launched the SkillSelect system for permanent and temporary migration. Under this
program, potential immigrants and temporary migrants can submit an expression of interest (EOI) online; appli-
cants under the points system must do so. EOIs include descriptions of work experience, educational backgrounds
and language skills, along with a mandatory ofshore skills assessment. Applicants profles are matched with occu-
pational shortages at either the national or the state/territorial level or with employers preferences. They become
eligible for direct ofers of employment, aligned with temporary or permanent skilled migration status.
The most direct policy reform related to foreign qualifcation recognition has been the introduction, starting
in 1999, of ofshore assessment of foreign qualifcations as a requirement even to submit an application to the
Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).
14
These ofshore assessments are sometimes conducted by
the same regulatory bodies that also perform the actual professional licensing required to practice in Australia.
However, the pre-migration assessments are often separate from the formal professional licensing assessments
that is, approval for migration does not always guarantee licensing later. However, some regulatory bod-
ies, such as Engineers Australia, do provide automatic licensing approval to those who have received positive
pre-migration assessments from them.
15
During the past decade, the labour market outcomes of migrants to Australia have improved considerably.
16

The Continuous Survey of Australias Migrants (CSAM) has shown particularly positive outcomes for employer-spon-
sored migrants who received their status between 2009 and 2011. They had an unemployment rate of 0.5 percent
and a rate of employment in skilled jobs of 90 percent within the frst six months since being granted status.
17

It is still too early to assess the impact of the most recent reforms. In addition, CSAM does not provide infor-
mation directly applicable to foreign qualifcation recognition, only on some metrics of labour market success,
such as whether applicants work within skilled professions. It thus remains difcult to assess fully the impact of
continuing difculties with unrecognized foreign qualifcations. It is also important to note the above measures
(including English language testing) do not apply to family and humanitarian category migrants, or to econom-
ic migrants spouses. Such migrants typically commence the qualifcation recognition process on-arrival. Large
numbers take years, if ever, to secure full registration.
6
Policies to Facilitate Foreign Qualifcation Recognition
I
n recent decades, Australia has made a variety of eforts to make it easier for foreign-trained individuals to have
their qualifcations recognized, largely due to a reform push led and fnanced by the Commonwealth govern-
ment. Some of the responses have focused on informing foreign-trained individuals about the requirements for
recognition early in the application/selection process and on informing Australian employers and other actors
about foreign qualifcations. Other measures have set standards for comparing credentials, skills and compe-
tencies from diferent jurisdictions. In this area, there has been a considerable work both within Australia (to
ensure that people recognized in one state or territory can move to another and practice) and with international
mutual recognition agreements, either between governments or between professional associations. Final-
ly, for those who still arrive without recognized or easily comparable qualifcations, settlement services have
been assisting individuals with meeting the standards necessary, supported by bridging course investment.
National Standards for the Evaluation of Foreign Qualifcations
In 1989, the Australian government began to promote the idea of competency-based assessment.
18
The intent
was to ensure equal opportunity for approval to practice in regulated professions, regardless of where an individ-
ual was trained, provided that they had they had appropriate skills or competencies. Professional associations, up
to this point (and for a substantial period thereafter, depending on the profession), had prioritized training inside
the country, often through specifc educational channels or requirements for in-country work experience. As a
result, overseas-trained individuals did not always receive credit for skills or work experiences from other countries.
In part to promote this shift towards competency-based assessment, the Australian government set up two
main bodies at the federal level to develop general standards for evaluating foreign qualifcations, rather than
assessing individuals situations on a case-by-case basis. These bodies assess a variety of diferent kinds of for-
eign qualifcations and provide information about them for employers, applicants, foreign governments.
The frst of these is Australian Education Internationals (AEI) National Ofce of Overseas Skills Recognition
(NOOSR, often referred to as AEI-NOOSR). AEI-NOOSR, created in 1989, is the federal agency that has a mandate
to promote national standards for skill recognition, competency-based assessments and improvements to oc-
cupational regulation, among other things.
19
It provides access to 119 Country Education Profles (CEP), which
give background on foreign educational systems and credentials, including which institutions are accredited,
the language of instruction, grading systems and a variety of other information, so that educational institutions
and employers can better assess them.
20
Finally, it serves as a key agency in promoting the recognition of Aus-
tralian credentials abroad.
Trades Recognition Australia, established in 1994 under the Migration Regulations Act, performs a similar function
to AEI-NOOSR for skilled trades, such as foreign apprenticeships. Both AEI-NOOSR and TRA are currently under the
jurisdiction of the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE).
Information Provision for Foreign-Trained Individuals
DIAC operates Australia Skills Recognition Information (ASRI). It includes a website that explains how profession-
al qualifcations work in Australia, allows individuals to search for their occupation, fnd out if it is regulated and
whom to contact about obtaining accreditation. It also refers individuals to state and territorial organizations
7
for further assistance. On the SOL, DIAC also indicates which organism assesses the credentials of applicants by
occupation.
21
This listing helps inform potential immigrants about where to turn for their overseas assessments.
Although in general, attempts to expand recognition are still federally driven,
22
each state and territory has an
Overseas Qualifcations Unit (OQU). These ofces provide information about regulated professions and how to
obtain accreditation, comparisons of Australian and foreign degree programs, and directions to further training
programs, including language courses and bridging programs.
Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) also does individual evaluations of foreign qualifcations both for perma-
nent and temporary migration under certain visa categories and for employment in variety of positions. For
those felds for which it does not make employment qualifcation assessments, it provides referrals to other
organizations that do, such as the Medical Board of Australia or VETASSESS.
VETASSESS, founded in 1997, is a private registered training organization contracted by the federal govern-
ment to take on a portion of the qualifcation assessment process. It also provides pre-migration assessments of
immigrants and temporary migrants skills.
23
VETASSESS also ofers non-migration assessments for high-skilled
professions and additional training for a variety of felds, both onshore and ofshore, through short courses.
24

VETASSESS provides widely-recognized certifcates to those in trades who meet certain competency criteria, or
a statement of attainment of certain competencies for those who fall short, so that they may reapply later once
they have demonstrated meeting the remaining criteria.
25

National Education and Health Care Standards
Another large component of Australias policy response to unrecognized foreign qualifcations has been setting
standards for assessing and harmonizing Australian qualifcations, which can then serve as points of compari-
son for foreign credentials.
In order to have a national system for classifying educational qualifcations, including higher and vocational
education, the national government, at the request of the state and territory governments began developing a
policy framework to create a national system of educational qualifcations. The result was the Australian Qualifca-
tions Framework (AQF), which began to be implemented in 1995. The AQF governs which organizations are permit-
ted to issue approved qualifcations and the standards necessary to obtain the qualifcations, and how qualifcations
earned in one jurisdiction can be recognized in the other.
26
AQF-recognized qualifcations are guaranteed recogni-
tion throughout the country. This standards laid out in the AQF can be useful for evaluating foreign credentials.
In 2011, the Australian federal government set up the Tertiary Education Qualifcations and Standards
Agency (TEQSA) as a national regulator of postsecondary education quality. Currently, TEQSA can examine
whether postsecondary institutions are compliant with educational standards. TEQSA is responsible for inter-
preting and implementing the AQF; however, it cannot make changes to the AQF. Instead, a council of experts
has the power to suggest updates or reforms to the AQF.
27
However, TEQSA has additional standards for assess-
ing postsecondary education programs, in addition to examining whether postsecondary degree programs
meet the standards set out in the AQF.
28
The Commonwealth government has also played a leading role in developing national standards for health
care professions. Working in conjunction with the Council of Australian Governments, it developed the National
Registration and Accreditation Scheme, an agreement between the federal and state/territory governments to
8
regulate health care professions.
29
Each government passed laws to put the agreement into place, all of which
took efect by 2010. Notably, these laws established national boards to regulate health professions using a com-
mon set of standards across Australia.
30
Originally, the laws covered nine professions; now they cover 16. The
boards, in turn, are managed by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
31

The national boards serve a variety of functions. Most notably, health care professionals must register with
the appropriate board in order to be able to practice. However, the boards have long allowed for provision-
al registration, with requirements that are considerably less stringent than those required of permanent mi-
grants.
32
Australia ofers a number of temporary visas, including an occupational trainee visa, that allow for
medical practitioners to work in Australia while they obtain their permanent registration.
33
The national boards
also perform other functions, such as informing applicants about bridging programs.
Another recent development has been a fast-track competent authority option for health care profession-
als who have been registered in New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, the USA and Canada. This procedure entails
expedited assessments based on the similarity of the training systems of these countries to Australias.
34
There
is considerable variation in how prepared foreign-trained medical practitioners are to meet the multiple-choice
exam and clinical evaluations required to practice in Australia.
35
Some of the main drivers of success are whether
the medical professional is a native speaker of English, how old the candidate is and where and how recently
the candidate was trained.
36
The country of training has particularly notable efects. These outcomes factors
suggest that, at least in the health care industry, prioritizing youth and English language ability might lead to
a higher proportion of recently admitted permanent residents being prepared to meet Australias professional
standards.
One of the key lessons from the push to regulate health care professionals is that setting national standards
requires substantial state government buy-in. While a considerable amount of the leadership on this has been
at the federal level, the procedures for allowing migrant professionals and tradespeople to practice still vary
considerably among the states and territories.
37
Mutual Recognition Agreements
Australia has attempted to make it easier for qualifed professionals to move both from outside Australia and
within the country through a variety of international and domestic mutual recognition agreements. These
agreements, like the policies with Australia, have focused heavily on setting clear and comparable standards
for qualifcations. The main diference is that international agreements have to bridge gaps between countries,
rather than among states and territories of Australia.
The 1992 Mutual Recognition Agreement was codifed in federal and state laws, such as the federal Mutual
Recognition Act (1992).
38
As long as occupations are deemed equivalent, it is, in principle, possible to obtain cer-
tifcation in one state based on a prior certifcation in another. However, states and territories may well disagree
with each other on what is considered equivalent, which may limit the extent to which this domestic agreement
applies. To the extent that qualifcations are recognized among diferent states/territories, this allows immi-
grants with recognized credentials in one state/territory to move to other ones, allowing them to better fll
labour market gaps.
9
As for agreements with other national governments, Australia has gone much further than Canada. The
UNESCO Asia-Pacifc Regional Convention on the Recognition of Qualifcations in Higher Education, the frst
such international agreement, was ratifed in 1985. It establishes rules regarding foreign credentials, including a
right to assessment for the purposes of employment or education and a right to recognition of partial studies,
along with obligations to provide information to other countries about the educational system and educational
institutions.
Australia has a very broad agreement with New Zealand (the 1996 Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Ar-
rangement, or TTMRA), which generally allows those certifed in one country to practise in the other without
additional testing or certifcation. Australia has also ratifed a number of other international agreements in this
area, such as the Lisbon Convention and the ASEAN-Australian Development Cooperation Program.
39
(Canada
has signed but not ratifed the Lisbon Convention.)
In addition to these state-to-state agreements, professional associations have also developed mutual recog-
nition agreements that can have considerable practical impacts, even though they do not carry the force of law.
For example, the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia has a mutual credential recognition agreement
with the Canadian Institute of Charted Accountants. In 2007, Engineers Canada and Engineers Australia signed
a mutual recognition agreement.
40
These agreements between professional associations in diferent countries
provide an opportunity to address this problem without direct government intervention.
Settlement Assistance
Even with the various policies and programs reviewed above, a signifcant number of newcomers still fall short
of the qualifcations necessary to receive approval to practice in Australia. To fll this gap, some organizations
provide various types of settlement assistance to help them make the transition into professional life.
Language ability is often a barrier to integrating into the labour market. For example, it is impossible to pass
exams to obtain credentials without sufcient language skills. Since 1948, the federal immigration department
has ofered English language training to incoming migrants. Today, the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP)
ofers language classes to immigrants on permanent visas and some subclasses of temporary migrant visas. As
of 2010-11, just over 59 percent of adult migrants took advantage of this program, for an average of 362 hours of
instruction.
41
Additional class time is available through other programs, such as the Special Preparatory Program
(SPP) or the Settlement Language Pathways to Employment and Training (SLPET).
A number of other programs ofer assistance with accreditation assessments and additional study at Austral-
ian postsecondary institutions. The Assessment Subsidy for Overseas Trained Professionals program (ASDOT),
administered by the DIISRTE, ofers funding for assessments and exams needed for accreditation in Australia. It
has considerable eligibility requirements, including low-income status and being an Australian citizen, Austral-
ian permanent resident or a citizen of New Zealand resident in Australia, among others. ASDOT only provides
funding for qualifcations in 15 specifc professions, almost all of which are in health felds, with the notable
exception of architects.
42
Some general education funding programs, such as student loans, are available to im-
migrants to help them retrain or pursue additional university courses to increase their skills. One such program,
FEE-HELP, specifcally provides loans to help people attend bridging programs.
10
Finally, a number of professional associations have long ofered bridging programs for migrant profession-
als. For example, Engineers Australia ofers a number of programs for foreign-trained engineers and graduates
of Australian universities from other countries so they may acquire Australian work experience and familiarize
themselves with Australian workplace norms.
43
These programs provide interesting models for other profes-
sional associations.
Remaining Issues
T
he responses to the issue of unrecognized foreign qualifcations in Australia indicate that governments,
professional associations and other stakeholders have been taking this issue seriously. However, more work
is necessary to examine the impact of the various measures, particularly those adopted since 2011.
In this respect, it can be useful to compare practices across regulated occupations. Some occupations, such
as health professions, have extensive bridging programs that provide provisional approval to practice while an
individual obtains the prerequisites for permanent approval; however, these programs can vary considerably
from profession to profession. Such practices can present models for other occupations where specifc kinds of
(usually in-country) training are required before formal approval to practice.
Both countries have largely focused more on the issues of skilled migrants than on those of family-spon-
sored immigrants and spouses or partners of principal applicants. These groups do not go through the pre-mi-
gration overseas assessments that skilled migrants must now undergo. As a result, they may have their quali-
fcations unrecognized for years after arrival.
44
Survey research has shown that partners of economic migrants
have worse labour market outcomes than principal applicants.
45
The same problem could well exist for some
humanitarian class migrants. The Longitudinal Survey of Humanitarian Migrants (2013-2017) should provide
similar outcomes data for this group (not now covered by the CSAM). It would be worth examining in more
depth how newcomers from outside the conventional economic migration streams deal with the issues of un-
recognized foreign qualifcations.
Australia has developed a number of policies that have infuenced the Canadian governments approach. It
is worth examining further how the shift towards overseas assessments has changed outcomes in Australia and
in due course - whether Citizenship and Immigration Canadas introduction of overseas assessments in 2012
will have similar impacts. At the same time, the structure of the Canadian federation is likely to make it difcult
to replicate the Australian approach exactly, notably in the health care feld, particularly given the primacy of
provincial governments in regulating occupations and the Canadian federal governments lack of involvement
in postsecondary education.
There is more work to be done in both countries to make it easier for foreign-trained individuals to work
in their felds of education and experience. Although governments are addressing various aspects of the issue,
they can only do so much. In the end, regulatory bodies, who ultimately decide who can practise the profession,
are the ones responsible for setting their own standards and procedures. That said, regulatory bodies and gov-
ernment agencies can learn a good deal from others involved in addressing foreign qualifcation issues, both in
their own country and elsewhere.
11
Notes
1 The other two were the United Kingdom, third, and Ireland,
eighth. Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2011-
2012 Program Report: Program Year to 30 June 2012 (Canberra:
Commonwealth of Australia, 2012), p. 3-8. Available at
http://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/pdf/report-on-
migration-program-2011-12.pdf.
2 Lesleyanne Hawthorne and Winnie Wong, Australia-
Canada Roundtable on Foreign Qualifcation Recognition:
Backgrounder (Ottawa: Public Policy Forum, 2011).
Available at http://www.ppforum.ca/sites/default/fles/
Backgrounder%20%28EN%29.pdf.
3 Hawthorne and Wong 2011.
4 Hawthorne 2008, 5.
5 Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Points Test
for Certain Skilled Migration Visas. Published 1 July 2011.
Available at http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-
migration/pdf/points-test.pdf.
6 Hawthorne and Wong 2011.
7 Lesleyanne Hawthorne, How Valuable is Two-Step
Migration? Labor Market Outcomes for International
Student Migrants to Australia, Asian and Pacifc Migration
Journal (2010), 1: 5-36.
8 See Bob Birrell, Lesleyanne Hawthorne and Sue Richardson,
Evaluation of the General Skilled Migration Categories.
(Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2006); Hawthorne
2010, p. 16; and Hawthorne and Wong 2011.
9 Hawthorne 2010, 16-19.
10 Department of Immigration and Citizenship 2012, 3-8.
11 Defned as places other than the Gold Coast, Brisbane,
Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong and Melbourne.
Department of Immigration and Citizenship, SkillSelect:
Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (subclass 187).
Available at http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/index/
visas/subclass-187/.
12 Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Fact Sheet
24a - Priority Processing for Skilled Migration Visas. Available
at http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/index/visas/
subclass-187/.
13 Lesleyanne Hawthorne, Annex 2: Best Practices in Foreign
Qualifcation Recognition - Australia (Ottawa: Public Policy
Forum, 2011a), p. 2. Available at http://www.ppforum.ca/
sites/default/fles/Annex%202.pdf
14 Lesleyanne Hawthorne, Australia, in Immigrant Integration
in Federal Countries, eds. Christian Joppke and F. Leslie Seidle.
Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 2012.
15 Engineers Australia, Migration Skills Assessment Booklet.
Available online at http://www.engineersaustralia.org.
au/sites/default/fles/shado/About%20Us/Migration%20
Skills%20Assessment/migration_skills_assessment_booklet.
pdf.
16 Hawthorne 2008.
17 David Smith, Eugen Kovac and Mark Woods, The Continuous
Survey of Australias Migrants: Cohorts 1 to 5 Report, 2009-11
(Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2011). See especially
Table 3.1.
18 Hawthorne 2012.
19 Hawthorne 2011a.
20 To access CEP, visit https://aei.gov.au/Services-And-
Resources/Services/Country-Education-Profles/about-cep/
Pages/default.aspx.
21 Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Consolidated
Sponsored Occupation List: Schedule 1 and 2. Available at
http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/_pdf/sol-schedule1-2.pdf
(accessed 24 August 2012).
22 Hawthorne 2012, 43.
23 The full list of countries and trades, separated by permanent
and temporary migration, is available at http://www.
vetassess.com.au/migrate_to_australia/assess_my_trade_
skills.cfm.
24 Hawthorne and Wong 2011.
25 VETASSESS, Assessment Process. Available online at http://
www.vetassess.com.au/assess_my_skills/ns_assessment_
process.cfm.
26 For more on the AQF, visit http://www.aqf.edu.au/
AbouttheAQF/TheAQF/Objectives/tabid/90/Default.aspx.
27 For a full list of current members, please visit http://www.
aqf.edu.au/AboutUs/AQFCouncilMembers/tabid/105/
Default.aspx
28 TEQSA, TEQSA and the AQF. Published 8 February 2013.
Available online at http://www.teqsa.gov.au/sites/default/
fles/TEQSA%20and%20the%20AQF.pdf.
29 The full text of the agreement is available at http://
www.ahwo.gov.au/documents/National%20
Registration%20and%20Accreditation/NATREG%20-%20
Intergovernmental%20Agreement.pdf.
30 Hawthorne and Wong 2011.
31 For more information on AHPRA, visit http://www.ahpra.gov.au/.
32 Hawthorne, Lesleyanne, Graeme Hawthorne and
Brendan Crotty. 2007. Final Report: The Registration
and Training Status of Overseas Trained Doctors in
Australia. Available online at http://www.health.
gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/
D949ABAA95DCE77FCA2572AD007E1710/$File/otdreg.pdf
33 For a more detailed discussion of these trends, please see
Lesleyanne Hawthorne,
34 See Lesleyanne Hawthorne, 2011b. Health Workforce
Migration Australia, available online at http://crmcc.
medical.org/publicpolicy/imwc/Ethical_Integration_
Australia.pdf, and Lesleyanne Hawthorne, 2012, The Early
Migration and Career Trajectories of International Medical
Students Qualifed in Australia (Sydney: Medical Deans of
Australasia, 2012).
12
35 See Hawthorne 2012 and Hawthorne, Hawthorne and Crotty
2007.
36 Hawthorne 2011b.
37 Hawthorne, Hawthorne and Crotty 2007.
38 The full text of the federal law is available at http://www.
comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2010C00197.
39 See Hawthorne and Wong 2011 for a more in-depth
discussion. Notably, Canada has signed but not ratifed the
Lisbon Convention. The full text of the Lisbon Convention is
available at http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/
Html/165.htm.
40 Mutual Recognition of Registered/Licensed Engineers
by the Jurisdictions of Australia and Canada to Facilitate
Mobility, October 2007. Available online at http://
engineerscanada.ca/e/fles/MRA_engineers_australia.pdf.
41 The cap on classroom time is 510 hours. Department of
Immigration and Citizenship, Annual Report 2010-2011,
(Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2011), p. 222.
42 Further information is available on the Department of
Human Services website, at http://www.humanservices.gov.
au/customer/services/centrelink/assessment-subsidy-for-
overseas-trained-professionals.
43 For a more in-depth description, see http://www.eeaust.
com.au/migrant-engineers.html.
44 Hawthorne and Wong 2011.
45 Department of Immigration and Citizenship,Fact Sheet
14 Migrant Labour Market Outcomes. Available online at
http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/14labour.htm#a
(accessed 12 February 2013). Data on this topic are available
from the Continuous Survey of Australias Migrants.