Melbourne, Australia:
Currently, Australia is not accepting any offshore international students. Which means, Australian universities and tertiary institutions, which were largely reliant on thousands of newly arrived international students every year, are making do with domestic students and whatever number of international students that are already present in Australia.
To fill in the shortcomings of new students, and at the same time exploiting an international student’s wish to acquire a Permanent Residency in Australia, educational agents and institutions have come up with a plan to “recycle the existing students” – or so it seems.
An international student who has completed their Bachelors degree and higher is eligible for a two year Post Study Work Visa. In this two years, an international student can either work or study. Educational agents, under this new scheme, are targeting students who have completed a course which does not provide a pathway to an Australian Permanent Residency, and encouraging them to enrol in a course which will allow them to apply for PR – furthermore, they are fast-tracking their two years course into one year, as per reports and student accounts.
Suman Dhungana (name changed), an international student from Melbourne upon the recommendation of his agent joined a Commercial Cookery course in April. However, the agent was able to show that Suman enrolled in February itself. The agent also assured Suman that he will complete his course in one year, and will be eligible to apply for a Permanent Residency.
Tertiary institutions in Australia are currently adding courses which allow students to apply for PR upon completion of their course. Institutions are expected to show student registrations only once a year, or when they are audited – therefore allowing them a loophole to exploit the system.
According to the Director of an institution who has refrained from such unethical practices:
“Today, they might be able to exploit the loophole. But what will happen if tomorrow the respective government body learns about this? What will happen to the students if their certificates are cancelled? Not only that, what kind of skill will the student demonstrate when s/he graduates after completing only three months of a one year course?”.
The above Director was also approached by agents with a promise of lots of students. But he did not agree to the proposal. “This is illegal. If in the future, this falls under scrutiny, not only the students, but the lives of several people will be impacted”, he said. “We have all seen the fate of AIBT and other nursing colleges”, he added.
Such activities have increased during the Covid-19 pandemic, and not only affect the Nepali community in Australia, but the entire South Asian community with a strong presence within students from the Indian Subcontinent.
Time and again, Australia issues Royal Commissions, or commissions of inquiry, which probe malpractices and other irregularities. Malpractices within the education industry too is not going to be missed by the government. If this issue, in the future, allows ground for a Royal Commission, the students will have a lot to lose. The important question to ask here being:
“Will the educational institutions and the agents take responsibility of the students then?
