If a recent story in the Toronto Star is anything to go by Canada needs to take a long hard look at itself when it comes to recruiting Indian students to study in Canada.
Last year just 6,937 Indian students chose to pursue further study in Canada. Just under 97,000 chose Australia.
The reason for this disparity is simple - Australia recognises the value of education as a valuable export industry in its own right, and Canada apparently does not.
Ok so you can't believe everything you read in the press, but if the Star article is even half right, Canada's efforts to market the country's educational institutions fall somewhere between non-existent and "we're thinking about it...it's definitely on our to do list".
The article highlights the contrasting approaches of Australia and Canada when it comes to education marketing in India - the former well funded and professional, and the latter woefully under funded and half hearted.
The Australia/Canada link is interesting. The economies of the two countries are quite similar, with both traditionally reliant on raw materials and agriculture as the mainstays of their export industries. It is interesting then that the approaches to international education are so different. International education is now the third largest export industry in Australia (behind iron ore and coal) and is worth over $14bn. That's a lot of dough, especially in the midst of a global financial crisis. It would rank nowhere near as high on Canada's list of exports.
The Toronto Star article focuses on universities and largely ignores the vocational education and training (VET) sector. Australia's success in attracting VET students makes the situation look even worse for Canada. In Australia in the 12 months to December 2008 the VET sector ranked first by volume of commencements and second by volume of enrolments. VET was the fastest growing sector in both enrolments (46.4%) and commencements (46.1%). For both measures, this was the highest rate of growth in any sector. 82.9% of VET enrolments came from Asia and this region experienced growth of 51.5%. The three largest markets in this sector by volume of enrolments were India (52,381), China (25,431) and Nepal (12,813).
Canada should lift its game in India for its own sake. Until it does Australia will continue to reap the benefits.
Sunday 19 April 2009
Tuesday 14 April 2009
Australia: College fraud crisis?
We have been following the story of alleged illegal activity by education and training providers in Australia.
International students are at the centre of the controversy. Sometimes they are victims - charged exorbitant fees by institutions for subject results, or for failing to submit assignments. In other instances it is alleged that students are complicit in the wrong doing, paying dishonest operators to obtain fraudulent visa credentials.
There are differing views on the extent of the problem in Australia, but it appears that pressure is mounting on the Australian Government to take decisive action on the matter - see full story
The Government seems to be trying to play down the issue. That is all very well, and it may be that the problem is not as significant as the media reports make out. Even so, if momentum in the media continues to build on this issue so will the public perception that there is a problem. Negative perceptions of the integrity of the Australian education system is something that the Government definitely does not want, especially considering that the provision of education to overseas students is the country's third largest export industry.
Australia is not alone with this problem. Coincidentally a story in the Times Online today outlines similar visa fraud problems in the UK and notes that "bogus colleges set up to help foreign workers to enter Britain illegally have long been considered the biggest loophole in British immigration controls" - see full story
It is vitally important that Governments get this kind of activity under control, both to protect international students, and to safeguard their country's international reputation as a high quality education market.
International students are at the centre of the controversy. Sometimes they are victims - charged exorbitant fees by institutions for subject results, or for failing to submit assignments. In other instances it is alleged that students are complicit in the wrong doing, paying dishonest operators to obtain fraudulent visa credentials.
There are differing views on the extent of the problem in Australia, but it appears that pressure is mounting on the Australian Government to take decisive action on the matter - see full story
The Government seems to be trying to play down the issue. That is all very well, and it may be that the problem is not as significant as the media reports make out. Even so, if momentum in the media continues to build on this issue so will the public perception that there is a problem. Negative perceptions of the integrity of the Australian education system is something that the Government definitely does not want, especially considering that the provision of education to overseas students is the country's third largest export industry.
Australia is not alone with this problem. Coincidentally a story in the Times Online today outlines similar visa fraud problems in the UK and notes that "bogus colleges set up to help foreign workers to enter Britain illegally have long been considered the biggest loophole in British immigration controls" - see full story
It is vitally important that Governments get this kind of activity under control, both to protect international students, and to safeguard their country's international reputation as a high quality education market.
Wednesday 8 April 2009
Investigation targets 20 Melbourne colleges
A concerning story in The Age (the leading daily newspaper in Melbourne) about an investigation by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship into 20 Melbourne colleges for suspected visa frauds - full story
This has been an ongoing problem in Australia and also in the UK where visa rules for international students were tightened last year to limit the opportunity for fraud.
We'll keep a watch on this story to see how it unfolds.
This has been an ongoing problem in Australia and also in the UK where visa rules for international students were tightened last year to limit the opportunity for fraud.
We'll keep a watch on this story to see how it unfolds.
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