If you are thinking  about undertaking any kind of study in Australia, come down to visit our information booth at Casuarina Shopping Centre this Saturday the 7th of April. If you’re extra lucky you might even get an Easter egg from ICAE’s CEO Sean Mahoney!

You can ask questions about studying in Australia, transferring from another college, starting an apprenticeship or traineeship or anything else you might want to know about studying with ICAE.

Our booth will be located upstairs above the Foodcourt, near Betts Shoes and Hoskings Jewelers.

Below is a map of the mall showing our booth location and some photos of our previous booth.

ICAE International students like Susie can still work full-time during industry placement.

International students living and working in Australia now have the added flexibility of being able to work for 40 hours over a two week period. Previously students were allowed to work a maximum of 20 hours on any given week. This change to the student visa work conditions came into effect on the 26th of March 2012 and applies to all current student visa holders and any future students.

What Do these Student Visa Work Conditions Mean for Students?

Simply put this means students can now accumulate up to 40 hours of work over a two week (14 day)  period. Students can not; however, work more than 40 hours over any given two week period. Students can still work unlimited hours during semester breaks and additional hours if the course has a work based component such as ICAE’s Industry Placement.

Example 1- Not In Breach of the Work Conditions

Week 1 – 10 hours

Week 2 – 15 hours

Week 3 – 25 hours

Week 4 – 15 hours

Week 1 + Week 2 = 25 hours – OK

Week 2 + Week 3 = 40 hours – OK

Week 3 + Week 4 = 40 hours – OK

In this example, the student does not work more than 40 hours total over ANY 14 day period and is therefore not in breach of the student visa work conditions.

Example 2 – In Breach of the Work Conditions

Week 1 – 10 hours

Week 2 – 15 hours

Week 3 – 25 hours

Week 4 – 20 hours

Week 1 + Week 2 = 25 hours – OK

Week 2 + Week 3 = 40 hours – OK

Week 3 + Week 4 = 45 hours – In breach

In this example, the student does not work more than 40 hours total over the first two 14 day periods; however, during the third 14 day period (week 3 + week 4) the student works a total of 45 hours and is therefore in breach of the student visa work conditions.

Does this Apply to Family Members?

Yes, this change will apply to any dependant family members in Australia on your student visa. This means that family members may work up to 40 hours every two weeks.

The Previous Work Conditions

Prior to 26 March 2012, student visa holders and their dependant family members (except masters or doctoral degree student dependants who can work full time), could work a maximum of 20 hours per week during the term once the course had commenced, and unlimited hours when the course was not in session.

Is ICAE Any Different?

Due to ICAE’s career focused course structure, this change only affects ICAE students who are in their first, classroom-based semester. Students in their second, industry placement semester are able to continue their 40-45 hours of work per week as part of their required industry placement.

Leanne with Pine Creek Manager Chris Mason

Originally from the UK, Leanne came to ICAE after spending about 18 months at Pine Creek as a barmaid. She loves the outback lifestyle and decided that she would study at ICAE so she could continue to work at the Pine Creek Hotel while she studied.

For those who haven’t heard of the Pine Creek Hotel, it is located in the mining town of Pine Creek, about 230km South of Darwin. The town itself is considered remote but Leanne says that she enjoys the lifestyle and the community.

“It is a great little community where everyone knows each other and is always ready to help you out. The hotel is particularly busy during the dry season, with plenty of tourists coming through. In the wet season it is a lot quieter but we still have 400 mine workers here to keep things lively!”

Like many of ICAE’s students, Leanne is looking to gain further skills to become a better manager and look towards a long term career in the Territory.

“It was clear that gaining a qualification [in hospitality] is vital to my long term goal, which is to remain in the NT , working as a Bar manager.

“My plan for the next couple of years is to complete my diploma, whilst learning as much as possible about all aspects of the industry and use my new skills learned at ICAE to help me in my role. Hopefully I can use my education to help make improvements to the running of the pub.’

Map of Pine Creek

View Larger Map

Today Austrade released a new promotional video to market Australia’s international education sector. The video highlights some of the major advantages of studying in Australia such as the high quality of education, the global opportunities and the fantastic Aussie lifestyle.

Dr Craig Emerson, Australian Minister for Trade said “[Australian] institutions are among the world’s finest, equipping students with knowledge, skills and networks that will last a lifetime.”

Produced by M&C Saatchi and Animal Logic (of Happy Feet fame), the video features beautiful graphics with a stop motion like style of animation with music produced by Australian music producer Johnny Green. The video can also be viewed on the Australia Unlimited iPad app.

Austrade Future Unlimited Video

Yes, Darwin and the Northern Territory remains the best place in Australia to find a job! Prior to Christmas we saw an increase in job advertisements and recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that the unemployment rate in the NT is holding ground at 4.2%. This remains one of the lowest unemployment rates in Australia and with the new INPEX Ichthys project now signed, the demand for workers in Darwin and the Territory will only increase.

Northern Territory Government Treasurer, Delia Lawrie, said the figures were further evidence of the underlying strength of the Territory economy.

“Today’s strong result reflects continued confidence in the Territory economy, with the second lowest unemployment rate in the country, well below the national figure of 5.2 per cent,” Ms Lawrie said.

“In tough global conditions, our economy continues to perform, keeping Territorians in jobs with a 2.8 per cent increase in full time employment compared to January 2011.

“Now with major projects such as Ichthys transforming our economy, these families will be able to reap the benefits of our bright economic future.”

This shouldn’t come as a great surprise to ICAE’s international students living in Darwin.  ICAE has a long history of assisting students get into work and most students are able to sustain their study through long-term employment.

Photo credit: gcoldironjr2003 on Flickr

Today (15 Feb 2012) DIAC announced a reduction of student visa assessment levels for a number of countries. ICAE’s international students require a 572 VET visa to study in Australia, therefore these changes will affect students applying to ICAE from eleven different countries, as indicated in Table 1 below.

These changes will apply for students applying for student visas on or after the 24th of March 2012 and will mean that these students will have lower evidentiary requirements to obtain a student visa to study in Australia.

DIAC has a history of regularly updating student visa assessment levels so students should check the current student visa assessment levels before preparing to apply for their student visa.

More information can be found on the DIAC reduction of student visa assessment levels webpage.

A couple of weeks ago ICAE representatives held an information booth at Casuarina shopping mall. Thanks to the great bunch of people we met over the weekend, we are going to continue to hold information sessions at Casuarina on the first Saturday of each month, starting on Saturday the 3rd of March.

Anyone who didn’t get to see us a few weekends ago can come down and ask questions about studying in Australia, transferring from another college, starting an apprenticeship or traineeship or anything else you might want to know about studying with ICAE.

Our booth will be located upstairs above the Foodcourt, near Betts Shoes and Hoskings Jewelers. We will be there on the first Saturday of each month, on the following dates:

• Saturday 3rd of March
• Saturday 7th of April
• Saturday 5th of May
• Saturday 2nd of June

Below is a map of the mall showing our booth location and some photos of our previous booth.

Click photo thumbnail to enlarge

ICAE still has full tuition scholarships available for Australian students who wish to study hospitality. These scholarships are valued at A$24,000 and provide the opportunity to undertake ICAE’s award winning Advanced Diploma of Hospitality program for free.

Your scholarship covers all your materials, student support and work placement assistance, and ICAE’s work focused program lets you complete half of the course as workplace based training.

This is a great opportunity for you to study and work in the hospitality industry.

Applications are closing Friday the 27th of January so if you are an Australian resident or citizen and are interested in ICAE’s Australian student scholarships please apply online.

You can see the full terms and conditions on our Australian Student Scholarships page.

Yesterday one of the most significant and anticipated deals in the history of Darwin was confirmed when Japanese mining conglomerate INPEX, along with French partner Total, signed the US$30 billion Ichthys gas pipeline deal.

The project will see the building of a 885km pipeline from the Ichthys gas field in Western Australia to a processing plant in Darwin; the proposed Darwin plant will include a power station, loading jetties, two processing facilities and two LNG trains. A virtual fly-through can be seen here.

Although the first LNG cargo is not expected until the end of 2016, construction of the processing plant and pipeline will begin this year.

“The Territory has secured its economic future and is on the way to becoming the oil and gas capital of Australia,” Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson said.

“It will provide 3000 jobs during construction and the resources growth will underpin our economy for the future providing training, employment and business opportunities for Territorians.”

Facts and Forecasts for the INPEX Project

• The project is expected to provide up to 10% of Japan’s energy.
• Experts predict that INPEX will boost the Northern Territory economy by 20% in gross state product per year.
• This will be the biggest investment in Australia by either Japan or France.
• The gas pipeline will run from the Northern Coast of Western Australia to Darwin.
• The pipeline will be 885km long, 42 inches in diameter and have 75,000 joints. This will be the 4th longest under-sea pipeline in the world.
• 100,000 barrels of natural gas condensate will be produced per day at peak times.
• During construction INPEX will require a 3000 strong workforce with 700 remaining during operations.
• As a result of the INPEX project, Australia will overtake Qatar as the world’s largest LNG exporter by 2017.

This weekend, the 14th and 15th of January, ICAE representatives will be at Casuarina Shopping Mall in Darwin to provide information and assistance for students looking to study at ICAE.

If you are in the Darwin area and are considering taking ICAE’s international program or you are a local looking for an apprenticeship, please come on down and say hi.

We will have representatives there that can answer questions about studying in Australia, transferring to ICAE from another college, starting an apprenticeship or traineeship or any other questions you have about ICAE’s programs.

Our booth will be located upstairs above the Foodcourt, near Betts Shoes and Hoskings Jewelers. See map below.