I have been covering the issue of the international student university scam in Australia. Macrobusiness.com.au, has done devasting pieces showing that the ABS claim that such students are a $ 46 billion export is false, involving double accounting: https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2024/06/international-student-exports-turn-angry-broke-imports/. And Caitlin Cassidy, education reporter for the Left-wing Guardian.com, reported using whistle-blowers to tell about the extraordinary degree of corruption that the universities are involved in, with foreign students, with many with no basic English skills getting degrees, even higher degrees:
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2024/08/the-guardian-upset-by-unis-it-debauched/
The latest report from Guardian.com tells us that the Australian universities are over-dependent upon the international student cash cows, and this is a vulnerability. Indeed, it is, as if there is World War III, or even a Taiwan war, the Chinese students go back to the motherland, and the universities collapse. One university during Covid shut down for a while to save costs since it was so dependent upon the foreign students. It is a pity these places were not shut down for good, as it would make Australia a better place. Have trades and professional training for Australians in special centres. No need at all for universities. End them all now!
"Australian universities' dependence on international student fees has "fuelled a culture of revenue, profit and competition" and created an unstable business model, the head of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has warned.
Critics representing various interests in the sector joined in expressing anxiety at the position universities had found themselves in as the federal government aggressively tries to wind back the number of international students.
The chief executive of Universities Australia, Luke Sheehy, said tertiary institutions had "come to rely on international student revenue to fund everything we do in the face of declining government support in recent years – from teaching and research to infrastructure projects and employing people in well-paid jobs".
In percentage terms, Australia has more international students than any OECD country bar Luxembourg – and well in excess of the UK, Canada and the United States.
The Group of Eight (Go8) institutions are particularly reliant on international student fees, with foreign enrolments making up 47% of the total cohort at the University of Sydney and more than 35% at the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University, the University of Queensland and the University of Adelaide.
Universities earn nearly twice as much from overseas students as from domestic students. Average revenue per domestic full-time equivalent student was $22,996 in 2023, compared with $41,117 for an overseas equivalent student.
The president of the NTEU, Alison Barnes, said a growing dependence on foreign income had fuelled "corporatisation" of the sector.
"[International students] add a lot to our campuses, they're an asset – but they're seen as cash cows," she said.
"There's a systemic risk associated with relying on international student fees that was demonstrated during Covid – it's not stable. But it's inherently problematic beyond the associated risks.
"The aggressive pursuit of international student income has fuelled a culture of revenue, profit and competition for students."