1.i am sick to repeat my position:I am not against Aussie.
Too many people put Aussie as rosy as possible.
Can i just put some not so positive aspects of Aussie to
share.
Of course SG is not perfect.
U can open a thraed UPSIDES OF DOWNUNDER here to balance
my views in Downsides of Down under.
pl share how you feel Almost one in 10 Australians has tried
methamphetamines at least once,....About half a million Australians
have used methamphetamines in the past year.(crystal
methamphetamine is
"ice",)---http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/exposed-the-new-illicit-drug-scourge/2007/01/29/1169919278504.html
2.Parents,pl calculate your risks before sending kids overseas to
study,
incl to Singapore,Aussie,USA...
Your kids cant improve English so fast by just studying in a
English speaking countries.
Put foreign students to the talk test, says
recruiter.Adam Morton, Higher Education Reporter,January 30,
2007
Australia's leading recruiter of overseas students is urging
universities to introduce English tests at the start and end of all
degrees for the good of students.
Responding to research suggesting that one in three international
students graduated despite having a poor grasp of English, IDP
Education Australia yesterday called for universities to use
internationally recognised English tests before admission and
graduation.
The call came as the Federal Government confirmed that it would
raise the English level required for skilled migrant visas.
Tony Pollock, chief executive of IDP Education Australia, said
universities owed students an assurance they would graduate with
English good enough to succeed in the Australian workforce.
About a third of Australia's 239,000 overseas students hope to get
a skilled migrant visa once they graduate, according to the
research by Monash University demographer Bob Birrell.
Dr Birrell said universities and TAFEs did not independently test
the English level of overseas students. Applicants based overseas
need to prove their competence to the Immigration Department to
earn a higher education student visa, but those already based here
for year 12 or other earlier study do not.
Prime Minister John Howard said he was worried by the results of
the study showing that 34 per cent of graduating students who were
granted permanent residence did not have English skills good enough
to justify university admission, let alone pass a degree.
"I will be getting some advice from the vice-chancellors and be
getting some advice from my Education Minister as to how accurate
they and she believe the research to be," Mr Howard told Southern
Cross radio.
But Education Minister Julie Bishop accused Dr Birrell of making an
"extraordinary attack" on universities by suggesting they were
deliberately allowing standards to fall.
Ms Bishop said the Government would introduce changes in July that
would lift the minimum level of English needed to become a
permanent resident, bringing it into line with that needed for a
higher education student visa.
Greens senator Kerry Nettle said universities had dropped standards
to chase fees from overseas "cash cow" students in response to
systematic underfunding by the Government.
The Vice-Chancellors Committee rejected suggestions universities
lowered standards so they could collect advance fees from overseas
students.
