The education scandal

It is truly a national scandal that our tertiary institutions have taken so little trouble to protect the welfare of the foreign students who provide the fees that these institutions depend upon.

We have seen the recent publicity about our institutions of higher education extracting millions from overseas students, who are then left to fend for themselves in unsafe environments.  We have seen the disturbing reports of vicious attacks on south asian students in vulnerable situations.  It is truly a national scandal that our tertiary institutions have taken so little trouble to protect the welfare of the foreign students who provide the fees that these institutions depend upon.  These students are more than just fodder for the eduction business, and what a big business it is.  It is this country's second biggest export earner but we are dealing not with commodities but with human beings, who deserve to be treated with respect and protected.

The bureacrats who work in these institutions and whose employment is underwritten by the fees paid by these unfortunate overseas students should be shifting uneasily in their seats. If the goose that lays the golden eggs goes elsewhere then so shall you have to!

0 Comments

1. 

   StephenWilson

   July 10, 2009 at 7:18 am

   not an “educational scandal”

   I should preface my comments by saying I am no apologist for the education export market. I bemoan the fact that a so-called "clever country" has let its tertiary ed sector whither before the altar of user-pays.

   Let’s have some calm and a bit more perspective when questioning the safety of overseas students in Australia. I think it was on Crikey that I read some interesting new angles on this issue. Many (most?) of the individuals concerned are not at large universities but rather private business colleges. Nothing wrong with that but critics shouldn’t be venting on "institutions of higher education" per se.

   Yes students should be protected, and in particular, if they are being targeted on racial grounds, then it’s appalling. But this sad matter simply is not any sort of "education scandal" as headlined.

   Stephen Wilson is Managing Director of the Lockstep Group.
   Lockstep Consulting provides independent advice and analysis on identity
   management, PKI and smartcards. Lockstep Technologies develops unique
   new smart technologies to address transaction privacy and web fraud.
   • 

     mrty

     July 28, 2009 at 2:46 am

     The Education Scandal

     Stephen might review his comment on my blog because he missed the point entirely. This is not a safety issue (although that has gained some publicity). Tonight’s 4 Corners programme got more to the point. What we are dealing with is the multi billion dollar corruption of the education export industry. A few basic points need to be made. First, we are not selling education any more (if we ever were). We are selling visas. Secondly the education institutions and the agents who promote the industry have irredeemably corrupted it by greed, incompetence and unethical behaviour. Thirdly, the officials who are supposed to police the industry are either too lazy or too incompetent to take any action or they have become a part of the problem by incestuous relationships with the institutions and the agents who market the visas. Neither are the politicians immune. They choose to ignore the scams because their re-election campaigns are funded by the same agents and institutions who benefit from the corrupt system.

      

     What can be done about it? First get rid of migration agents and education agents. They are just parasites. Secondly drive the shonky education institutions out of business. If there is no local market for their courses they should not be in business as they are just in the visa racket. Thirdly demand that the political parties reveal all donations from migration and education agents and education institutions.