Overseas Students Exploited As Cash Cows
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday December 17, 2008
UNIVERSITIES have relied too heavily on revenue from overseas students to compensate for scant public funding, a Government-commissioned review of higher education has found.
Overseas students, who make up a quarter of all tertiary students in Australia, are used as cash cows to bolster revenue for domestic students and research, the review headed by Professor Denise Bradley found. But the income was volatile - subjectto unrest in their countriesof origin. "There appears to be a systematic pattern across institutions of cross-subsidisation to supplement other institutional activities," the report said. "This suggests that funds available for teaching of domestic students and for research activities may be insufficient and that services for international students would improve if more funds were made available to institutions." Overseas students find university less enjoyable than local students, a 2006 survey of satisfaction rates showed. And as standards of education improve overseas, particularly in the Asia Pacific, the appeal of studying in Australia could dim. The Bradley report cited a projection by one overseas student placement service, IDP Education, which showed that demand for positions at Australian universities would grow by 4.25 per cent a year to 2010, slow to 3 per cent a year to 2015, and slow further beyond that. The projection did not take account of the global financial crisis. In Sydney, the proportion of income taken from overseas students is highest at Macquarie University and the University of Technology. Both rely more heavily on overseas students than the average Australian university, which collects 15 per cent of revenue from foreign students, one-fifth of them Chinese. While the Bradley report warned against too heavy a reliance on foreign students, it also called for more international scholarships to relieve the skills shortage. It recommended 1000 scholarships for international students, with Government funding matched by institutions. "Despite the focus on the knowledge economy and forecast shortages of highly skilled workers in Australia, research higher degree students have been given a relatively low priority." It also said an independent board should sell Australian study overseas.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
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