Italian culture is deeply rooted in the ancient Greek and Roman civilisations which florished on the penisula for over a milllenium and left their imprint everywhere in the country in so many works of art, her legal system, her traditions.

In more recent years, Italy has played an important role in European higher education: it is one of the four countries that first engaged to create the so-called “European Area of Higher Education” (Sorbonne Declaration, May 1998), thus starting that type of higher education reform which, known as “Bologna Process” (Bologna Declaration, June 1999) is being implemented all over Europe.

Climate

On the map Italy looks like a boot stretching from Europe into the Mediterranean sea and this accounts for the variation in climate from North to South and according to altitude.

The Northern part of Italy has hot summers and cold winter, although the temperature rarely drops below freezing during the daytime.

The South enjoys mild winters and long, dry, hot Summers.

Mountain areas such as the Alps and the Apennines have long, cold winters long and short, cool summers.

Getting around

Public transport is usually cheap and efficient and is probably the best way to visit Italian cities, since parking, petrol and motorway tolls are quite expensive in Italy.

Generally speaking, it is usually more expensive to buy a single ticket, so it is worth your while finding out about the cost of weekly or monthly tickets for transport in your town.

Be aware that bus tickets are not sold on board and need to be purchased beforehand, usually at tobacconist’s and newsstands.

All tickets must be stamped before boarding trains and underground trains or on board buses.

Bus:

All the major cities have extensive bus and tram networks but these can inevitably be slow during peak traffic hours when the towns become very congested.

Underground:

Rome, Naples and Milan have an underground network known as the Metropolitana. Rome has two lines and Milan has three lines. Naples has it also has funiculars and a commuter line.

The Metropolitana and the three Funicolari are a much faster form of travel especially at the busy times of the day.

Taxis:

Are widespread, especially in the large cities, and can be recognised by the neon sign on top.

Taxis are usually white or yellow. Fares are quite high and there are additional charges for luggage, pets, at night-time, and on public holidays.
Official taxis have taximeters which display the fare to be paid and will issue a receipt if required.

Tipping is not necessary but most people round up a euro or two.
Very few taxis accept credit cards in Italy.

Be aware of unofficial taxis that are often parked near airports and train stations.

For further information on the courses available in Italy please feel free to contact Indoz Overseas Immigration and Visa Consultants

Job prospects in Hungary have improved significantly in recent years and there are plenty of Jobs available, mainly because Hungary has attracted so many international companies. Hungary has seen one of the highest economic growth rates in Central Europesince joining the EU in 2004. The modernization of manufacturing and technological processes, particularly in the IT, telecommunications, car manufacturing, construction and publishing sectors, has increased demand for workers with specialist skills.

During the past decades, it has become a most convenient choice for international students to pursue their studies in Hungary . Every year nearly 10,000 foreign students reside in the country, 3000 of them participating in study programmes offered in foreign languages. According to a recent survey carried out by the Academic Cooperation Association(ACA) in terms of study programs provided in English, Hungary is the sixth most popular destination in Europe The Bachelor, Master and doctoraldegrees granted by Hungarian Higher Education institutions (HEIS) caneasily get recognized in all European Union Countries.

The Hungarian higher education system consists of 68HEIs- including state universities and colleges, church universities and colleges, as well as private institutions accredited by the Hungarian Accreditation Committee (HAC)

To apply to study in Hungary feel free to contact us and to keep yourself updated follow us at Twitter.

The Maltese Archipelago lies virtually at the center of the Mediterranean, with Malta 93kms south of Sicily (Italy) and 288kms north of Africa. Gibraltar is 1,826kms to the West and Tel Aviv is 1,940kms to the East.

Malta’s climate is strongly influenced by the sea and is typical of the Mediterranean. The Islands have a very sunny climate with a daily average of five to six hours sunshine in mid-winter to more than 12 hours in summer.

The official languages are Maltese and English. Maltese is a language of Semitic origin written in the Latin script. Over the centuries, it has incorporated many words derived from English, Italian and French.

For further information feel free to contact Indoz Overseas.

The Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Andrew Metcalfe, said the department was conducting a review of the nation’s migration needs to ensure a more rounded and visionary approach.

”In terms of the future, we are trying to lift ourselves away from year-to-year decisions to a 50-year vision,” he told the Australian and New Zealand School of Government conference in Canberra.

”We are trying to move away from an immigration department that is responsive to one that can help the government achieve long-term objectives … A long-term planning framework … is something whose time has come.”

Mr Metcalfe said a well-planned skilled migration program could contribute to Australia’s long-term economic, demographic and environmental goals.

”We want to ensure our skilled migration programs are responding to longer-term skill needs which cannot be addressed through domestic training and skills development,” he said.

”The question then is how we can best address shorter-term labour market requirements … It will be important that the skilled migrants we choose are not only young and healthy but also have a high level of education, language proficiency and other skills. This will ensure that skilled migration contributes both to labour force growth and to the productivity of our labour force.”

Mr Metcalfe said the review will include an examination of the points system used to select skilled migrants, known as the Migration Occupations in Demand List.

”The MODL is not as flexible as we would like to address a rapidly changing and uncertain global environment. In my view, one of themes of this century will be the increased mobility of people around the globe, and we need to manage this adroitly.”

The Clarius skills index report for the June quarter shows that while skilled job seekers are still struggling to find work, unemployment among the qualified is falling.

Information technology, engineering and accounting professionals are expected to be in short supply within the coming year as firms struggle to find suitably qualified candidates.

About 37,000 qualified candidates were unsuccessful at getting a job in the June quarter, compared with 14,000 previously.

But a closer look at the figures, based on official employment data, showed 124,800 professionals were unemployed in the three months to June 30, compared with 133,700 in the first three months of 2009.

The March quarter’s skilled unemployment tally was the worst since 2001.

Clarius Group executive manager Kym Quick says demand for skilled workers is actually increasing despite the difficult economic environment.

“Even though unemployment numbers are climbing, that’s not necessarily translating to the skilled workforce,” she told AAP on Sunday.

Australia has shed 77,000 manufacturing jobs during the past year, but Ms Quick said the story was different in the skilled labour market.

“Predominantly, the skills shortage we have come out of suggests there was a dramatic undersupply going back to 18 months ago and … we’re seeing an evening out of that.”

Of the 19 skilled employment categories, seven of them either had an undersupply of labour or an evenly-matched balance with labour demand.

Chefs and hairdressers were in short supply because of the low pay and unsustainable hours, Ms Quick said.

She predicted IT, engineering and accounting professionals would be in short supply during the next six to 12 months as an economic recovery encouraged firms to restart stalled projects.

For example:

For further details about this, or any other aspect of immigration law, please contact a Indoz Overseas advisor today.

Currently Chinese and certain other overseas visitors to Europe are required to obtain separate visas for add on trips to the UK. Tour operators and the wider tourism industry however have argued that the requirements to obtain an additional visa and the rising costs and procedures involved in processing a UK visa have acted as a ‘disincentive to include short visits to the UK in tours majoring on continental Europe. The Foreign Office is therefore examining the feasibility of the UK entering the Schengen visa system, a single visa covering 15 European countries, including the UK’s key tourism competitors, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

With particular reference to Chinese tourists, UK Consul-General in Shanghai, Ms Carma Elliot advised:

“Most Chinese tourists want to go on a continental tour. We cannot currently capture that. But we are busily exploring the options…whether we could offer visas as part of a wider European tour.”

Lobbying for change, Visit Britain stated that in 2007, whilst France attracted some 750,000 Chinese tourists, the UK saw just 150,000. If the UK were to join the Schengen system however, a dramatic increase in the number of Chinese tourists would be expected, bringing with them valuable tourist dollars.

UK Trade and Investment Director for China, Mr Alastair Morgan said:

“We think there’s a lot of future potential for tourism from China. But at the moment we have far more business visitors. We would like the UK to be performing better…”

If you are interested in UK Visas, contact Indoz Overseas.

The new policy, which is due to be implemented in December, will place no limit on the amount of workers coming from a single country and will increase the period for which a work permit is valid from one to two years.

According to Tobias Billstrom, Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy, the changes will constitute one of the most profound reforms to immigration policy in several decades. It comes at a time when Sweden is facing severe labour shortages and has a significant need for doctors, nurses, electricians, engineers, IT professionals and welders.

Indian nationals are by far the biggest non-EU migrant group living and working in Sweden and Billstrom chose to announce the changes during a seminar held at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

He went on to say that “once the new rules are in place, an employer who is not able to meet labour needs through recruitment in Sweden or in the European Union will be able to recruit labour from any other country.”

Foreign workers will be able to bring their families with them to Sweden and, after four years of living and working there, would have the right to apply for permanent residence.

Tier 2 covers employer-sponsored immigration and replaces the UK Work Permit scheme. It also covers long-term appointments for ministers of religion, admissions for professional sportspeople, and intra-company transfers.

People applying under Tier 2 as general skilled workers will receive points based on their employer’s sponsorship, their skill level, and other factors. People applying under Tier 2 as ministers of religion and sportspeople will face similar requirements as well as criteria specific to their category.

Tier 5 covers temporary employment for sportsmen, performers, charity workers, religious workers, government-authorized exchange workers, and international agreement workers. Like Tier 2, sponsorship by an employer, government, or other relevant organization is required.

With the addition of Tiers 2 and 5, the new five-tier points based system is 60 percent operational. Tier 4 for foreign students is expected to start sometime in the first quarter of 2009.

Tier 3, for unskilled workers, has been suspended indefinitely in favor of workers from within the European Union. However, employers who depend on these workers feel that the EU cannot provide enough workers to fill labour shortages, so there is still a possibility that Tier 3 will see the light of day eventually.