It is now becoming apparent to the Australian authorities that many education agents recommend courses to intending students without any regard for whether the courses suit the students’ needs.  It is promised that such-and-such a course will definitely lead to permanent residence, when education agents know very well that no such promise can honestly be made.  Students are assured that there will be no problems with accommodation or employment, although it is well known to those already here that they are likely to be ripped off by greedy landlords and that they are unlikely to find any employment other than menial work as taxi-drivers, console operators or the like.

I have pointed out before, but it may be worth repeating, that education agents are mostly in the pay of particular Australian education providers, who give them commissions for recommending courses.  Therefore the course which is recommended will usually simply be any course that the agent receives a commission for recommending.

The education providers are themselves not innocent in all this, since they employ the agents simply to increase the number of overseas students enrolled and thus to bring in the dollars.  There is little evidence that they do any serious vetting of the agents, or any serious monitoring of their activities.  Many education providers, in fact, produce grossly misleading glossy advertising and are happy to make promises which they know will not be kept.  Many of the courses are worthless, and conditions of enrolment are often such that a student who tries to change education provider will be slapped with a heavy fee.  A complaint by a student may be met by a threat to have the student’s visa cancelled.

There is some involvement in this kind of fraud by migration agents also, who may be associated with shonky education agents who refer clients to them for a fee.  However, this is less of a problem than it used to be, because of stricter regulation of migration agents.  Education agents, however, are totally unregulated, and although in theory there is some regulation of education providers, it seems to be very lax, so that dodgy colleges have been operating under the noses of the authorities for years.

Intending students need to be aware that many education agents and colleges cannot be trusted.  These people have no knowledge of Australian immigration law, which is a complex and constantly changing field.  Their promises as to how to obtain permanent residence are worthless.  The process of getting PR is in fact becoming increasingly difficult, with higher IELTS scores required than ever before, the proposed introduction of trade testing, the increasing difficulty of finding employment, and the longer processing times for most occupations.

A student who wishes to obtain permanent residence should check out the Australian education scene carefully, perhaps through friends or family who are already here.  Advice as to permanent residence should not be taken from any education agent or college, but only from a registered migration agent with solid experience in the field.

I have heard that some Indian students are calling for a class action to be taken against the Australian Government for falsely promising that they could obtain permanent residence through study in Australia.  I do not believe that any such class action would have even the slightest chance of success.  I have not seen any such promise ever made by or on behalf of the Government.  Students should focus their attention on sueing the education providers and education agents who have made such promises, knowing full well that they were false, and who have delivered nothing but rubbish in return for large sums of money.  However, it is unfortunately all too obvious that many students have themselves been willing parties to such frauds, knowingly purchasing false educational documents, false IELTS results and false employment certificates.  Widespread plagiarism has also recently been exposed in some universities and colleges.  In my opinion, such students have no right to complain if they find themselves in trouble once these scams are exposed.

Although there has rightly been much attention recently to the problems of Indian students being bashed on trains and at stations, I would say that in the long run the problems caused by a dishonest money-based education system will prove to be much more serious for huge numbers of overseas students in Australia.  It may well be, too, that the link which now exists between Australian-based education and permanent residence will be severed, and only offshore applications for skilled migration will be accepted – as used to be the case some years ago.