Foreign students in Australia being exploited for profit

last SG · 2009-04-04T14:39:06+00:00

Agree, in aus, u can do without a degree, but not in singapore. It depends on if you're doing business or you plan to work.In the business world, you'll need...

Worldlybusinessman SG

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20081223-109907.html

Foreign students in Australia being exploited for profit: Report

By Roger Maynard, Australia Correspondent

SYDNEY: International students in Australia are often given misleading information by overseas recruitment companies and frequently exploited in the workplace, a new report has claimed.

The report, which looked into the way the international student community is treated in Australia, has raised concerns about the lack of affordable accommodation and underpayment by employers, among other things.

The study, by The Overseas Student Experience Taskforce, focused on the state of Victoria and was instigated in September in the wake of media and word-of-mouth criticism about local conditions.

International education is Victoria's biggest service export, and as many as 133,000 foreign post-secondary, vocational and higher education students contributed an estimated A$3.9 billion (S$3.8 billion) to the state's economy last year.

Highlighting what it considered to be one of the central issues facing these students, the taskforce report said many of them fall victim to Australia's ban on foreign students working more than 20 hours a week.

Most work beyond the stipulated hours and live in constant fear of being reported to the authorities.

'The consequence is often that overseas students are at risk of workplace exploitation as they fear they will be reported to the immigration authorities and then deported,' the report said.

An example of workplace discrimination it mentioned was the case where, for the same job, an Australian student was paid A$14 an hour and an overseas student A$9.

According to the Union for Fast Food and Retail Workers, this was only the tip of the iceberg.

In a submission to the taskforce, the union revealed the case of a Chinese student who worked for 20 days on a trial basis in a 7-Eleven franchise and alleged that the owner manipulated the books to misrepresent the number of hours worked for pay received.

'These kinds of horror stories should not, by now, be news to government,' the union said.

'The 20-hour work restriction, coupled with the lack of avenues for international students to come forward to complain about breaches of workplace rights, has created a thriving black market in which gross underpayment of wages, fraud by employers, bullying and intimidation of international student workers thrives,' it added in its submission.

In response, the taskforce recommended that students who performed well academically should be permitted to work for more than 20 hours a week.

It also recommended that education institutions be required to provide access to affordable and appropriate housing for overseas student in their first six to 12 months in Victoria.

On the question of offshore recruitment agencies providing misleading information, like favourable long-term visa outcomes, the inquiry urged the authorities to set up a register of education agents.

Australia's Immigration Minister has already pledged to widen legislative powers to tackle the problem.

While the taskforce's brief did not look at the standard of teaching in Victoria, the report does recommend 'an effective and responsive quality-control process...recognising that Victoria's reputation for quality is hard won and can be easily tarnished'.

The study comes hot on the heels of last week's federal Bradley Review of Australian Higher Education, which claimed that foreign students were all too often regarded as cash cows used to bolster budgets for domestic students and research.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 23 Dec, 2008.

fishbuff1 SG

so how much did u borrow from your parents to study here in oz?

Worldlybusinessman SG

so how much did u borrow from your parents to study here in oz?

i studied sometime ago. around 1998-2001. not much arund 12-16 K per year Uni Tasmania.

Worldlybusinessman SG

if i were the student, i will just call Herald Sun and sexpose the company.

Stevenson101 SG

i studied sometime ago. around 1998-2001. not much arund 12-16 K per year Uni Tasmania.

Think the main killer is going to be the living expenses

Worldlybusinessman SG

Think the main killer is going to be the living expenses

i do not think likewise, because the living expen for rent + food ect for me did not exceed 500 per month. But this was during the late 90s. I think now it just slightly went up , but still manageable. In Victoria now i think it shoud be averaging around $600.In low popualtion areas like Tasmania it will be cheaper but comparing to major cities like Melbourne and Sydney, convienience and transport is an issue.

fishbuff1 SG

i dont understand this; sg govt proudly profess that the education in SG is of high quality standards and yet, year after year, there are heaps of sporean students travel to Oz to study tertiary education, even costing at $100k per year per student, parents scrimped and save for this intent.

now where is the logic to this?

angel7030 SG

KNS, Uncle u totally contradict yr the other posting

ditzy SG

That would mean singapore is doing the same, but at a deficit.

Worldlybusinessman SG

KNS, Uncle u totally contradict yr the other posting

what contradict, i post this news, the culprit is not the Aust Govt but individuals. Good to know OZ govt is taking steps to rectify the problem.

But in Singapore i heard of international student exploited like hell....One even commit suicide, and father need to ask Indon police for help..

U are such a silly little angel . I hope u also commit suicide one day and stop bothering speakers corner with your persistent shallow and dumb posts

Worldlybusinessman SG

now where is the logic to this?

100 K per year?

No lah, at most is 60-70K only lah at melbourne and Monash and other Group of 8 Unis in OZ

Tier 2 unis are even cheaper lah around 9k for deakin, swineburn, RMIT,

In NUS think u already need to pay 8K per sem

Worldlybusinessman SG

now where is the logic to this?

Persons educated overseas will bring about more jobs in singapore as MNC may have certain preferences, They know nuts about our local system , dont tey, They are foreign companies right. We need a diverse educational profile

angel7030 SG

what contradict, i post this news, the culprit is not the Aust Govt but individuals. Good to know OZ govt is taking steps to rectify the problem.

But in Singapore i heard of international student exploited like hell....One even commit suicide, and father need to ask Indon police for help..

U are such a silly little angel . I hope u also commit suicide one day and stop bothering speakers corner with your persistent shallow and dumb posts

Me silly??? all because of you, a silly Uncle. I thot u alway against foreigner here, so it should be a blessing for you that they commit suicide, our Doctor also commit suicide in Australia, so how??

Contradict said contradict lah, why twist here and there, one time said Oz good, the other said Oz cheat people. What individual are u talking about, these insitutions are build by the govt or approved by them, so to speak, one way or the other singapore students school fees will fatten some of the politician pockets.

And because of dumbler Uncle like you calling others dumb, how can singapore achieve EGALITARIAN, u go back to drink auntie milk lah

Worldlybusinessman SG

And because of dumbler Uncle like you calling others dumb, how can singapore achieve EGALITARIAN, u go back to drink auntie milk lah

Blind idealism u follow. 60-70K in top aus unis is expensive to u but u dont mind paying that amound for a shiny new car in Sg +COE which only last u 10 years and when u dont need a car in SG. U Call singaporean students stupid for going overseas to study?. They pay the same amount for a car in SG + they get a cheap Aust car for $2K-5K to drive around there. Is it u or them is stupid. And this amount of money already puts them ahead of locals in employment internationally.

Considring education is a worthy investment in one's life. The universities in Aust are not build by govt. They are bonafide institutions which receive funding from govt. The school fees not fatten their politicians, it is being used to pay for lecturers in the Unis.

Do u think OZ citizens are subsidised, they are not. They only pay a smaller amount when they enter the unis and they have to compete with international students too. They will be paying the remainder and more than us through taxes when they go out and work.

Worldlybusinessman SG

NUS - Most expensive University in Asia?

The National University of Singapore (NUS) is known as one of the best universities in the world, but does an education here come with a hefty price-tag to match?

A 2007 ranking of the world’s top 200 universities by British paper, The Times of London, placed NUS at No.33. This was a tumble from the previous year, where it made No. 19 on the paper’s list of top 20 tertiary institutions in the world.

In this year's Feb 3 issue of Forbes, a list of “The World’s Most Expensive Colleges” ranked NUS as the ninth most expensive college in the world, with an annual tuition fee of $36,000.

A paragraph in the article read: “...a total price tag of more than US$31,000 ($46,751 including living expenses), makes an NUS education one of the most expensive in Asia.”

NUS was ranked alongside other renown overseas colleges such as the University of Melbourne (annual fee $30,463) and Imperial College London ($41,925 for non-British and European Union students) in terms of college fees.................

Rest of the article:

http://www.sgclub.com/singapore/nus_most_expensive_134096.html

Hey silly angel. Even in singapore NUS cost the same or more..Might as well i go overseas, get international exposure, chances for employment and basically i am paying for a tour like stay there only.

Fark u angel, u go back and do yr homework first before u post. Annual tuition fees in 22K-24K in Melbourne and Monash compare to 33K ++ in Singapore uni,,

Worldlybusinessman SG

Angel u just self pawn yourself....

angel7030 SG

In here, we can use CPF mah, yet got govt subsidize, why need to go overseas?? Want to show off ar??? Last time, u go overseas people said WOW!!! ang mo trained, father must be damn rich, in today context, you go overseas most probably is due to you cannot make it into Singapore U. And today, we got alots of foreign university doing courses locally just to earn some money from us. So, why need to go overseas?? We should go overseas only to do business or for tour, for study??? dun give me the bull, unless you are doing PhD or master whereby you need to complete a certain project that needs overseas exposure, than, that is different.

U should know our space constraint here, but we got good transport system here, and everything is very easily accessible, unlike Oz, buy one lipstick only, have to travel 1 hr or so...why compare our car prices when across the strait, indo and malaysia is lagi cheap. And bear in mind how many of our goondo students died on the road in OZ, those aussie truckers are reckless drivers, who cares so much of yellow skinned singaporeans.

If i want to drive a singapore car in singapore to show off, cannot meh?? it is a status here you know. People got money to buy why u worry so much?? Char kuay teow only $3

angel7030 SG

Rest of the article:

http://www.sgclub.com/singapore/nus_most_expensive_134096.html

Fark u angel, u go back and do yr homework first before u post. Annual tuition fees in 22K-24K in Melbourne and Monash compare to 33K ++ in Singapore uni,,

Fish you lah, we got subsidise ok, so what you hv 22k in melbourne, most carry gun there ok, and talk about lounging and living expenses, the poor father hv to at least fork out 80k to 100k if not more. Be more gentleman, this is only a debate, dun lose already start to fark me ok.

angel7030 SG

Angel u just self pawn yourself....

u too, shut up!! me eat prawn now

Worldlybusinessman SG

fark u angel, cos rental 1 room share with 2 people only cost 200 per month.

U go and do yr homework first. I think u never go to OZ before.

USe CPF to pay for NUS fees , so what, u cannot use all of it...And also CPF is yr own money too...

and also btw, Did u ever realise than when comparing OZ to SG university. In SG there is no cost to cover for Tax, and still it is MORE EXPENSIVE THAN MONASH AND MELBOURNE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS...AND THE FACT IS THAT AFTER THE SUBSIDY U STILL END UP PAYING AROUND 10K++ IN NUS..U TALK ABOUT D/L DEGREE LIKE SIM GLOBAL?. A DEGREE FOR 5K? SOUNDS CHEAP AND QUALITY ALSO COME CHEAP FROM WHAT I HEARD D/L DEGREES OFFERED IN SINGAPORE ARE INFERIROR TO THE ON CAMPUS ONE OFFRERED IN THE HOME COUNTRIES. EVEN WITH THESE FORM OF DEGREES AROUND, LOCALS ARE STILL GOING OVERSEAS TO STUDY

STUDYING IN NUS IS NOT THE SAME AS IN A COUNTRY LIKE OZ where there is much more stuff fgoing on in business, finance and the open press.

U wIll gain all these knowledge which in NUS u cannot.