17.5 BILLONES DEJARON LOS ESTUDIANTES INTERNACIONALES A LA ECONOMÍA AUSTRALIANA

¡Es un hecho!

Los estudiantes internacionales benefician ampliamente la economía australiana.

17.5 billones es el aporte que dejaron los estudiantes internacionales a Australia. Esta cifra corresponde al año comprendido entre marzo de 2014 y marzo de 2015, así lo destaca el último informe publicado por el diario THE AUSTRALIAN.

International students add record $17.5bn to economy

·      THE AUSTRALIAN

·      MAY 06, 2015 12:00AM

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International students contrib­uted a record $17.5 billion to the Australian economy for the 12 months to the end of March, ­according to government figures released just days after the Prod­uctivity Commission warned the rapid growth and increasing dep­endence on international students was creating governance problems and issues with visa integrity.

The figure is the highest since the $16.1bn recorded in 2009, a 14 per cent surge compared to the previous corresponding period, according to the Australian ­Bureau of Statistics.

There are currently 413,000 international students in Australia, with spending on tuition, as well as goods and services, rising at a faster rate than the number of students.

Both the Productivity Commission report and a separate paper released by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption have pointed to the increasingly conspicuous role of third-party agents in recruiting students as a concerning development.

The commission also raised long-held concerns the streamlined visa process put in place in 2012 and extended to private providers last year had pushed up numbers, but “undermined the ­integrity of the visa system”.

The government is reviewing SVP arrangements, with changes expected to be in place by the end of next year. It is understood the Immigration Department has argued that it should control the entire process as it does now, but is considering a more ­nuanced system that would take into account country of origin as well as the quality of provider.

Some agents have been caught marketing SVP-accredited institutions as an easy access point for students later found not to be genuine. The Australian reported in January that 7061 student visas had been cancelled in the previous financial year, a threefold increase in two years.

At that time, a number of brokers had been blacklisted by local colleges. Since an ABC TV Four Corners rep­ort revealed document fraud, bribery and cheating, the University of Canberra has said it, too, had begun cancelling contracts with some brokers.

Phil Honeywood, the executive director of the International Education Association of Australia, said that while Australia had learnt from problems with rapid overseas enrolment growth a more comprehensive internat­ional education risk framework was still needed.

But Christopher Ziguras, RMIT deputy dean (international), said the flow of information between the government, agents and education providers was improving and making it easier to track emerging problems.

“If English-lang­uage test results are not indicative of a student’s abilities then institutions can track where that student has come from and take action,” he said.

“There are isolated cases … but these stories are feeding a perception of international students which is completely inaccurate and not fair to students or the education institutions.”