Policies ease the pressure

留学新政降低门槛 再掀留学热潮

Fortunately, this year, popular destinations for overseas study, including Australia and Canada, have adopted policies which can lighten applicants’ financial burdens.
幸运地是，今年包括澳大利亚和加拿大在内的多个热门留学国家已出台相关政策，来减轻申请者的经济负担。

Meanwhile, some countries have made applying easier and offered more job opportunities to attract international students.
同时，一些国家为吸引国际学生，将申请过程变得更简便并提供了更多的工作机会。

21st Century reporter Xu Jingxi interviewed education consultants. They explained the latest policies to help you choose your destination wisely.
《二十一世纪英文报》记者许靖烯专访了几位教育顾问。他们针对留学新政一一做出解读，帮助你更明智地去选择自己的留学目的地。

Australia
澳大利亚

Consultant: Chen Juan,
咨询顾问：陈娟（音译）

Aoji Enrollment Center of International Education Ltd
澳际教育咨询有限公司

A series of policies came into effect on November 5.
一系列留学新政于11月5日正式生效。

1. Besides IELTS, student visa applicants can now also use scores in TOEFL, PTE Academic or CAE to prove their language ability to the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
1. 除了雅思成绩之外，学生签证的申请者也可以使用托福，PTE学术英语考试或者剑桥高级英语证书考试的成绩向澳大利亚移民局证明自己的语言能力。

Usually, applicants need to score at least 5.0 in IELTS to get student visas. A score of 5.0 in IELTS equals 35 in TOEFL iBT test, 36 in PTE Academic, and 41 in CAE.
申请者一般至少需要雅思成绩达到5.0才能获得学生签证。雅思成绩5.0相当于托福iBT考试的35分，PTE学术英语考试的36分和剑桥高级英语证书考试的41分。

2. Those who are going to Australia for a bachelor’s degree or a master’s now need to save less money in their bank accounts for the financial guarantee.
2. 现在，申请去澳洲攻读学士和硕士学位的学生可以在个人银行账户中存入更少数额的存款作为财产担保。

The amount of money used to cover tuition fees and living expenses for 24 months in Australia. Now it’s only 18 months. It saves applicants about 24,000 Australian dollars (155,002 yuan).
之前，这部分资金需要涵盖两年在澳洲的学费以及生活费。而现在只需存入一年半的费用即可。而这为申请者节省了2.4万澳元(约合155002元人民币)。

3. The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship now scrutinizes applicants’ reasons for applying for student visas. It wants to make sure that a student visa holder is coming to Australia for a temporary stay and for study only.
3. 现在，澳大利亚移民局会仔细检查学生签证申请者的申请原因。移民局力求确保每位学生签证持有者赴澳只是为了学习而短期居住。

The department published the latest Skilled Occupation List (SOL). An international student will get bonus points when he applies for Australian citizenship if he pursues a major related to the occupations on the list and if he manages to find a job in these professions after graduation.
移民局发布了最新的“技能职业加分列表”。如果留学生选择和列表上的职业相关的专业，并在毕业后能够在这些专业领域找到工作，当他申请澳洲公民身份时就会获得额外的加分。

Some student visa applicants may suddenly shift to majors related to SOL’s occupations for their study in Australia, while they major in areas that are irrelevant to SOL’s occupations back in their motherland.
一些学生签证申请者在申请赴澳学习时会转专业，选择“技能职业加分列表”中某个职业的相关专业。而他们在本国内选修的专业所涉及的领域则与那些该列表上的职业毫不相干。

These applicants must offer sound enough reasons for the change, otherwise they are very likely to be rejected.
这些申请者必须为转专业提供足够合理的原因，否则他们就会被拒签。

US
美国

Consultant: Qiao Xiangdong, Education International Cooperation Group
启德教育集团咨询顾问：乔向东（音译）

To stay and hunt for a job in the US after graduation, international students can participate in optional practical training (OPT).
毕业后想要留在美国找工作的留学生可以参加选择性实践训练（简称为OPT）。

They are eligible to have 12 months of OPT before getting work visas; graduates majoring in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are given 29 months.
在获得工作签证之前留学生均可申请为期12个月的选择性实践训练；就读科学，技术，工程学和数学专业（简称STEM教育）的留学生则可以有29个月的实践训练期。

On May 12, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement added 50 majors to the STEM-designated degree program. See the additions at http://www.ice.gov/sevis/stemlist.htm
5月12日，美国移民与海关执法局在STEM教育制定课程中新增加了50个专业。 这些专业可以在http://www.ice.gov/sevis/stemlist.htm网站上查看到。

Canada
加拿大

Consultant: Gu Ye,
咨询顾问：顾叶（音译）

New Oriental Vision Overseas Consulting Co Ltd
新东方前途出国咨询有限公司

Since May 3, the Canadian embassy in China has adopted a policy that helps student visa applicants who have good language ability, but are bothered by financial problems.
自5月3日起，加拿大驻华使馆出台了一项新政策来帮助那些语言能力优秀但为资金问题担忧的学生签证申请者。

Before the policy was adopted, applicants had to save the financial guarantee in bank accounts for at least 12 months.
在新政出台前，申请者必须保证银行账户中的财务担保金至少要存满一年。

The amount of money had to cover the expenses of your stay in Canada, which can be 150,000 to 200,000 yuan per year.
这笔资金必须涵盖你在加拿大的生活开销，每年约15万到20万元。

Now if an applicant scores 6.0 or above in IELTS and meets the language requirement of the school he or she is applying for, he or she only needs to spend 10,000 Canadian dollars (62,061 yuan) on a product named “Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC)” at Royal Bank of Canada.
现在如果一位申请者拿到雅思6.0或更高的成绩，并且能够达到他/她所申请学校的语言要求，他/她只需要花费1万加元（合62061元人民币）便可获得由加拿大皇家银行推出的“担保投资证”产品。