Education makes dollars and sense.

Australian Universities getting rich by ripping off international students

Behind the mining boom and something else like agriculture, for sure Australia's 3rd biggest money spinner has to be the education of foreign students. Or more precisely the import and use of foreign workers and students. These foreigners come to Australia in search of a "PR" - a Permanent Residency - which is as good as being a citizen without the voting rights/obligation. But to get a PR involves a very unfair process - which may surprise you since Australia is known for its fairness especially in matters relating to society and its legislation at government level. The migrant enters into study in a field deemed to be high demand, and so becomes an apprentice hairdresser or something. As part of this deal, they must accumulate 120 points in total to get a PR. They must have 1 year's work experience in their field of study (Not a different work than the field of study - ie the hairdressing apprentice cant work in a supermarket that doesn't count towards points for a PR) and they can either get 50 or 60 points for study. If They enrol in a ultra high demand field, then they are on track for 60 points, but unfairly, 2 years later when the apprenticeship is completed they may find they have been reclassified as less in demand and so are only allegeable for 50 points now. In short it doesn't stay congruent to the original demand and when it comes to those crucial extra 10 points they can be wiped out through fate and are not locked into the contract but allowed to be dictated by future demand levels for that field. This is really unfair.

Secondly there is an english exam which has 5 categories each scored out of 9 marks. The categories are something like reading, writing, listening, speaking, and sentence analysis. If someone gets 9 out of 9 on 4 of the 5 categories but less than 7 out of 9 on the last category,. then they get 15 points, otherwise if they get 7 out of 9 or more on all 5 categories then they get 30 points! So each section must be passed with 87.77% or else they get reduced points cut in half! What more, this test expires validity after 1 year and must be sat again if a PR has not been obtained by then. Guess what? Each test session costs 360$ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Money Money ChaChing! Lets get lots of money off those foreigners.

So an accountant is qualified in India, but when he arrives in Australia his qualifications are not valid and so its as though he is uneducated even though he has a degree. So he drives taxis and studies. He needs to pick a high demand subject so enrolls in hairdressing! Many a Sikh is to be found studying hairdressing in Australia at this time. (Sikhism religion says men cant cut their hair and it must grow extremely long under the turban!) So the contradiction is obvious. And they are not allowed to work more than 20 hours a week while studying, yet must meet all living expenses and education fees by their own means - a rich family back home or long covert hours driving a taxi. And here the absurdity of the grand deal becomes apparent. Education is a con - its a money spinner for the sake of bringing in revenue and in return the foreigner gets a PR if they are fortunate enough. Its almost like a sophisticated way of covering up a basic transaction - which is: you foreigners give us lots of money and we will after 3 years grant you a PR. That's if the foreigner has the means to jump through the various hoops without exhausting his resources by year 3. If so then its back to home town Bombay in shame and dejection. One university sent out a en masse email to all students urging anyone in distress to seek counseling after a chinese boy jumped out the University of South Australia City West Campus Libraries' top floor window and fell to his death. The statistics show that massive proportions of the total foreign student population - when tracked it turns out end up dropping out and in a state of poverty dejected and defeated return to whence they came. But because the money earnt in Western countries is a fortune when utilised in developing countries, this is the reason why the hardest working most motivated workers in the west tend to be the Indian or Chinese or Bangladeshi who find a cleaning gig and send the proceeds home where this cleaner's wages are a monthly blessing of mana from heaven. This is related to currency differences and the spending power that they feature.