Slump in English courses spooks university sector

[Jo_uktooz]

For a country like Australia that has recently come to rely very much on the international student industry this has to be bad news.

 

Steep slump in English spooks sector | The Australian

Despite the need for reforms in migration, Universities Australia is concerned that there are warning signs that should be heeded by government about the future of international education," he said, warning that the industry potentially faced a "significant downturn"."We would like to work with government to examine these factors and finetune the settings in this transition period," Dr Withers said.

The slump in the English language sector comes on top of warnings from international student recruiter IDP that inquiries and placements are falling in key markets. IDP's placements from India were down by 90 per cent in April compared with a year ago and placements from China were down 36 per cent.

The sector is warning that the implementation of tighter visa restrictions and delays and confusion over the newly released, and more narrowly targeted, skilled occupation list are hurting market confidence and squeezing out bona fide students.

It is also concerned that tighter restrictions on agents will persuade them to focus on competing markets such as Britain and North America.

"The motivations for the government we agree with and support . . . but the implementation is being undertaken without proper consultation with the sector and is resulting in some serious damage," Mr Murray said.

 

[Guest Jane1991]

For a country like Australia that has recently come to rely very much on the international student industry this has to be bad news.

 

Steep slump in English spooks sector | The Australian

 

Oh its nice to hear that ... I'm glad ... Australia should get the dubious distinction of rorting and ripping off international citizens by promising far more in terms of quality than they can ever deliver.

[Paul1Perth]

For a country like Australia that has recently come to rely very much on the international student industry this has to be bad news.

 

Steep slump in English spooks sector | The Australian

 

I think it's a sad reflection that the education should be referred to as "the international student industry". There are a lot of people that think of only how much money can be made and not the students best interests. If they can get round the system some way by inventing bogus courses and in some cases bogus establishments, just to make money, then they will.

 

There has been a recent case in the UK where a suspected terrorist was enrolled at a college in Manchester which was found to have something like one classroom and 100's of students. I'm sure the government is trying to put a stop to that sort of thing happening here.

 

If it turns out that there aren't so many foreign students show up for University places there may be more places for our kids. Just judging by the number of foreign students I see at UWA Australians must be in a minority there.

[Jo_uktooz]

It may be a sad reflection Paul but it is the truth I'm afraid,international students have been a major source of revenue for Australian universities for some time and it is an important sector of the economy.

As regards your second paragraph well frankly I don't see any reason for you to mention terrorism,international students are not terrorists and that is not why the government has made the changes and I would prefer it if you did not take a thread I started down that road.

I started it so that others could comment/discuss the changes and not for any other reason.

[Guest Alucard]

If it turns out that there aren't so many foreign students show up for University places there may be more places for our kids. Just judging by the number of foreign students I see at UWA Australians must be in a minority there.

 

In 2008, the University had 3,958 international students, part of a total student body of over 19,000.

 

Source : University Statistics - UNISTATS 2008

[Guest Jane1991]

I think it's a sad reflection that the education should be referred to as "the international student industry".

 

If it turns out that there aren't so many foreign students show up for University places there may be more places for our kids. Just judging by the number of foreign students I see at UWA Australians must be in a minority there.

 

If there weren't any cashed up international students ... UWA and almost all universities would be in grave financial distress ...

 

Assuming the government funding remained constant or increased marginally with a rapid decline in overseas investors

. Services would need to be cut down ... research intensive under-subscribed courses like nano-medicine would be shelved off .... HECS would rise putting poor domestic students further out of reach .... Either the university will have to scale back operations ... raise the fees, limit places and kick out domestic students who can't pay enough

 

But given the recent revelations ... I think we will see all this happen in this year or next ...

:biggrin:

 

Love the demand supply prices curve :jiggy:

[Jo_uktooz]

If there weren't any cashed up international students ... UWA and almost all universities would be in grave financial distress

Absolutely,there were 631,935 international students enrolled in Australia in 2009 according to DEEWR ,

if those students were not enrolled there would not be 631,935 places free for Australian students,there would simply be less courses on offer and less facilities for the remainder.

[Purple Princess]

For a country like Australia that has recently come to rely very much on the international student industry this has to be bad news.

 

Steep slump in English spooks sector | The Australian

 

 

I'm not surprised at this statement, but how many UK people (like myself) would chose to pay over $300,000 in living and education costs to be educated in Australia without at least a glimmer of a job/permanent visa at the end of it.

 

I just hope they sort out this mess asap, for everyone involved, or I fear that I may choose to complete my degree and take my money elsewhere...

 

Steph

xxxx

[Paul1Perth]

If there weren't any cashed up international students ... UWA and almost all universities would be in grave financial distress ...

 

Assuming the government funding remained constant or increased marginally with a rapid decline in overseas investors

. Services would need to be cut down ... research intensive under-subscribed courses like nano-medicine would be shelved off .... HECS would rise putting poor domestic students further out of reach .... Either the university will have to scale back operations ... raise the fees, limit places and kick out domestic students who can't pay enough

 

But given the recent revelations ... I think we will see all this happen in this year or next ...

:biggrin:

 

Love the demand supply prices curve :jiggy:

 

Thanks for the figures. I stand corrected.

 

I think the government clamp down is aimed at the people coming in to study hairdressing, cookery and the like and then expecting to get permanent residency after. Whenever there is a loophole someone will exploit it, especially if they are making money out of it. As the first article quoted says, Universities Australia is worried about "squeezing out bona fide students". I would hope that this portion of students wouldn't have anything to worry about.

 

I would hate UWA or any Uni to be in financial stress. UWA is one of the nicest campuses I've seen anywhere, including the UK. I use their swimming pool regularly and squash and tennis courts on occassions.

 

Makes you wonder where the money came from when they first built the place though.