Study Cairns responds to Novel Coronavirus outbreak
Study Cairns is in constant contact with Study Queensland, which is working hard for the International Education sector in co-operation with the International Education Global Reputation Taskforce. The Education Minister Dan Tehan and Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham acknowledge the significant impact that Novel coronavirus has on our sector.
Janine Bowmaker, Study Cairns President, says that Australia remains vigilant in relation to the developing situation and that Study Cairns would like to assure all international students in Cairns that their health and safety remains a top priority.
“Study Queensland is reaching out to the Chinese industry, whether international students or study agents, to reassure them that Queensland treats all student’s health and safety as an absolute priority,” said Ms Bowmaker.
We value our ongoing friendship with China and the role that education plays in this relationship. We would like to assure all international students that we will continue to look out for their welfare while they are in Queensland and we look forward to welcoming returning students when it is deemed safe for them to travel again.
The Australian Government is working with educational institutions to offer maximum flexibility from the sector regulators and encouraging options such as online learning. This does provide some risk mitigation on a higher level that was perhaps having to be handled by your individual organisations previously. We do understand that accommodation occupancy and availability will pose an issue when the situation returns to normal but as an International Education cluster, will work together to manage this when the time arises.
Study Queensland will be rolling out a wider strategy to address the challenges. We appreciate the need to respond to this challenge collectively across all provider sectors and regions and provide the following resources for members to keep themselves updated.
Novel Coronovirus Update (as of 4/2/2020)
Advice for International Students travelling to Australia from mainland China
Information for university and higher education students and staff arriving from mainland China
Information for universities and higher education facilities
Information for schools and early childhood centres
The Department of Health has a collection of resources for the general public, health professionals and industry about Novel coronavirus. (English and simplified Chinese)
The Department of Home Affairs announced that of 1 February 2020 all travellers arriving from anywhere in china, regardless of nationality, will be subject to enhanced border control measures (English and Chinese)
The Department of Foreign Affairs Smart Traveller website provides travel advisories
The Department of Education has resources for schools, early childhood education and care services, parents, students and universities in English. There are also fact sheets providing advice for international students travelling to Australia.
The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) has drafted guidance for higher education providers in the context of the coronavirus outbreak
The Australian Skills Quality Authority has drafted similar guidance for registered training organisations (RTOs) and English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS)
The National Coronavirus Health Information Line opened on 3 February at 7:30am and is now live on 1800 020 080, providing public health and situation informational. The line will refer requests for medical advice to registered nurses on healthdirect – 1800 022 222.
The line operates Monday–Friday from 8am to 8pm, Saturdays from 8am to 5pm, and Sundays from 9am to 5pm.
Out of hours, a recorded message refers people to the healthdirect website or nurse line.
The Queensland Department of Health is the key source of health information for Queenslanders (English and simplified Chinese)