Parliamentarians want ‘nuclear’ crackdown on agents and colleges

Rural universities would no longer need to “chase revenue” by establishing city campuses where the teaching of international students is subcontracted to private colleges, under a reform prescription from an Australian parliamentary committee.

Education agents, who have been barred from accepting commissions for recruiting foreign students within Australia, would not be able to dodge the ban by disguising their fees as “marketing” charges. And government agencies would enforce a ban on overseas students switching colleges within their first six months in Australia.

These are among 29 recommendations from an inquiry into international education by the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. Its proposals largely focus on boosting integrity in the industry, echoing similar recommendations from two recent migration reviews.

But the lead proposal is for a “team Australia” approach to promoting the industry, bankrolled by a “light-touch time-limited” levy on the earnings of institutions with overseas students.

Committee member Julian Hill drew a distinction between the idea, which mirrors a similar arrangement in New Zealand, and a controversial international student levy proposal floated by the Universities Accord panel.

He said the “vast bulk” of trade agency Austrade’s resources were used to promote tourism, and its spending on international education was dwarfed by many universities’ marketing budgets. “There’s a role for government in opening doors for business, and particularly in new market development,” said Mr Hill, a former executive director of international education with the Victorian state government. “Giving Austrade a giant sum of money to somehow market brand Australia would be like trying to boil the ocean.

“If we identify…a limited number of markets where we want to focus effort for the next few years, then there should be some degree of pooled resources to support that effort.”

The committee’s report suggests the sector should focus on a handful of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, south-east Asia and Latin America. Examples might include Botswana, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines and Zimbabwe.

The report also floats ideas to boost the employability of international students, including higher education apprenticeships and other “work and learn” study models. The government should also take a “pro-active, interventionist” stance to prevent professional accreditation bodies imposing “unreasonable barriers” on the employment of international graduates.

But the bulk of its recommendations are aimed at curbing disreputable agents and private vocational colleges. “It’s got a very strong focus on integrity issues,” Mr Hill said.

“The big message coming out of the evidence we’ve received – and a fair analysis of where the market’s at post-Covid – is genuine concern about quality in the bottom end of the private market. There’s a lot of recommendations, some of which are pretty nuclear, to deal with that.”

The International Education Association of Australia said the proposals would be broadly welcomed. “Almost all stakeholders agree tough action is overdue on the minority of agents and providers who’ve been getting away with doing the wrong thing,” said chief executive Phil Honeywood. “These recommendations should ensure greater protection from same-culture exploitation.”

But the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia said some of the recommendations could spell the “death knell” for international skills training. Chief executive Troy Williams highlighted proposals to “pause” new international college registrations and student recruitment in programmes “with persistent quality and integrity issues”, including management and leadership courses.

“We are just starting to see the international skills training sector get back on its feet after the Covid-19 pandemic,” Mr Williams said. “The committee’s recommendation will set this recovery back.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com