English of 1/3 PR graduated in Aussie not good enough admitted
to U!!
English skills row over foreign students,Adam Morton, Higher
Education Reporter,January 29,
2007---http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/english-skills-row-over-foreign-students/2007/01/28/1169919213448.html?page=2
One in three overseas students granted permanent
residency after graduating from an Australian university does not
have good enough English to handle a professional job, a study
says.
An analysis of government visa testing, the first of its kind,
found 34 per cent of 12,116 graduating international students who
received permanent residency in 2005-06 did not have the English standard
needed to be admitted to university, let alone to be awarded a
degree.
For students from China, the fastest growing international student
market for Australian universities, the proportion with poor
English leapt to 43 per cent.
Published in the journal People and Place, the
study asks: how did students with poor English get into an
Australian university, and how did they pass once they were
there?
The author, demographer Bob Birrell from Monash
University's Centre for Population and Urban Research,
said universities dealt with poor English in their students by
lowering teaching and assessment standards.
"The level of English that a significant minority are getting
through with is poor English," he said. "I've done a lot of
interviews with employers, and we've all reached the same
conclusion: no matter what their work ethic, (the students) are not
equipped for professional-level work in Australia."
He said some Australian universities offered courses, particularly
in accounting and computing, designed to require minimal English.
Students in other courses coped using means ranging from "tutorial
help to outright plagiarism".
The level of English required to gain an Australian visa varies.
Applicants for a higher-education student visa must score at
band-six level, rated as "competent", under the International
English Language Testing System, if based overseas when they
apply.
But international applicants can avoid the testing by
basing themselves in Australia earlier to complete either year 12
or an intensive language course. Dr Birrell found that about 40 per
cent of overseas students followed this path.
Students wanting a permanent residency visa sit the IELTS
after graduating but need to score at only band five, which
reflects a "partial com- mand of the language
likely to make many
mistakes".
Dr Birrell found slightly more than a third of applicants reached
band five, but not band six. He called on the Government to lift
the minimum English standard for permanent residency to the same
needed to go to university.
The number of overseas students at Australian universities surged
by about 40 per cent in the first half of the decade, mostly in
business and management.
This followed the Government's relaxing of entry laws for skilled
migrants, and universities and TAFEs launching campaigns to recruit
more international students. Universities have become increasingly
reliant on upfront fees from foreigners.
Universities and TAFEs do not independently test the English levels
of students before they start study, but Dr Birrell said this
should change.
"This is an appropriate juncture for universities to ensure that
the students they enrol are actually equipped to undertake
tertiary-level training," he said.
Professor Gerard Sutton, the president of the Australian
Vice-Chancellors Committee, said it was possible the students who
had failed to reach a band-six score had scored poorly in the
speaking component of the test, which may not have been a critical
skill in the course they were taking.
"I don't accept that there's a problem in universities in terms of
soft marking of international students," Professor Sutton
said.
With HARRIET ALEXANDER
2.What is the passing rate of SG graduates?
3.Is it wise to send kids to overseas to study and their
English
still not up to standard after graduated?
