Australia eases norms for student visas

Australia has introduced easier norms for international students, said to be this country’s third biggest export industry after coal and iron ore but under pressure after the attacks on Indian students and emergence of competitors.

Under the new arrangements announced on Thursday, international students enrolled in at or higher bachelor degree courses will be treated as lower risk applicants leading to less onerous financial and documentary requirements.

Students undertaking vocational courses would continue to be assessed against higher assessment levels but with lower financial requirements.

The changes will also allow for a two to four year post-study work visa for university graduates depending on the level of study completed.

These changes will be progressively implemented from late 2011 with the full complement of changes expected to be finalised in the first half of 2012.

CAT next year to see changes

CAT set to turn less stressful IIM aspirants will have to appear for only two sections instead of three, with an additional five minutes that will help them appear for the exam in a more relaxed environment
With only 40 days remaining for the Common Aptitude Test (CAT) 2011, the organisers have announced some changes in the format of the exams.

According to the organisers, unlike the previous editions of the exam, aspirants wanting to get into one of the 13 Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) colleges, will have to appear for only two sections instead of three, with an additional five minutes that will help them appear for the exam in a more relaxed environment.

Throwing light on the new format, an IIM official revealed that out of the two sections, the first would aim at testing the quantitative and data interpretation ability of the students, while the second section would deal with testing the verbal and logical reasoning skills of the students.

The two sections will have 60 questions each, and will have to be attempted in a duration of 70 minutes each. “The stress is more on testing the students' capacity to do mental calculations, which will be done in the first section that will have mathematical problems based on algebra, number systems and arithmetic.

The second section will test the analysing and logical prowess of students. It will not be merely testing of the students' memory, but also an understanding of the language being used in the questions, their interpretation and usage,“ said the official.

The IIMs have also announced a new scoring system in which students having up to four years work experience, will score up to 80.