Too many people are wasting too much time and too much money on universities. Except for the obvious 'professions', university attendance is an ego trip - useless for getting meaningful and needed employment.

True enough, but kind of overthinking it. Like the Prod Comm, ABS is a wholly-owned Treasury subsidiary. They copy-paste whatever immigration and population lies are required of them, by their corrupt overlord.

The ABS $60b is not "export" income, often it is earnings scraped together at cut-price rates by "students" once they're landed. Many of them are finding it at least as difficult to afford a roof, as the hapless local peasants. Hardly surprising, given the Mad Albo 400K net-migration program.

Thanks Steven Schwartz. Kudos. My only objection is you didn't go far enough.

Thanks also to comments by Steve S and ttbn.

Steve

Yes. The extra people the universities are bringing in for profit must never be forgotten.

"Albo’s Giant Australia is a housing and inequality disaster in the making." (Leith van Onselen, 'Macrobusiness', 16/6/23)

Universities are unofficial immigration agencies.

Agree absolutely and with complete certainty! You make a most authoritative case for a return to exclusive government funding for Australian academia.

And give Aussies first bite of the cherry and only allow fully funded foreigners remaining places if there are any.

Moreover, graduation should never be a shortcut to citizenship, only merit and bona fide degrees, plus reasonable english!
Alan B.

A great article which reinforces what we already know: Please do not disturb Politicians with enlightenment of the truth.

Interesting also, theses same untouchable institutions are high on the list for underpayment of wages to their casual staff, taken a step even lower by propping up those underpayments with gift cards as an alternative to real dollars. Scabs in the truer sense.

Suppose I accept at face value this statement that:
"for every extra 50,000 university graduates, an additional $1.8 billion of economic activity is generated annually."

That would mean that universities, which were supposed to be repositories of wisdom and [if not spiritual then at least] intellectual detachment, instead heat up the economy and encourage materialism.

- One good reason to close them!

"useless for getting meaningful and needed employment". ttbn.

Sorry ttbn, that is not correct. Some sort of university qualification is an automatic entry to a clerk job in the bureaucracy.

On second thoughts, you are definitely right with the meaningful bit.

Hasbeen

Right about the government clerical jobs, and others, where employers insist unnecessarily on tertiary qualifications and prevent non-university graduates from working.

And, all those idiotic decisions, policies etc that brought us to the social & economic pit we're in now, are made by people who have been to UNI !
Sadie the cleaning lady & Bob the Builder would definitely do a better job than than the self-serving pseudo intellectual ignorant elite !

Kudos guys.