Guardianship, More Than a Visa Requirement

Mr Patrick Ashe¹

¹Monash College, Melbourne , Australia

With Australian borders closing due to the impact of Covid-19, under 18 students commencing their studies offshore no longer needed to meet the requirements of the National Code, Part D, Standard 5, more specifically, their welfare arrangements.
With a team of well-versed in-house Guardians with few onshore students, we will demonstrate how our service has moved from a welfare-related visa requirement to a valuable asset for improving our younger students’ retention and transition rates from pathways to higher education regardless of their location. This paper compares the retention and transition rates between U18’s students with an in-house Guardian; U18’s students with a nominated relative as Guardian; and students over the age of 18.
We will share the research conducted in adapting our service, the steps we took to modify our existing practices for delivery in the virtual world, our key objectives, and our focus on easing the transition from offshore to onshore when borders open.
With a comprehensive bi-annual review of our program, we will highlight the learnings along the way and the qualitative and quantitative feedback from student and staff perspectives, the findings of which have far surpassed the objectives we identified in 2020.

Biography:
Patrick Ashe is the Manager of Under 18 Guardianship service and Student Engagement at Monash College, Melbourne. Patrick is experienced in the development and implementation of services that serve to grow not only the students potential throughout the International Education sector but the teams that he leads. His experience encompasses operations oversight, strategic planning, developing staff capabilities, stakeholder management, change management, critical incident and conflict resolution management. Leading from the front, he inspires and strives for team work, accountability and the enthusiasm to constantly improve our services in an ever-changing market.