“They were banking their future upon him completing his degree in Australia and gaining permanent residency.”

That is a high risk strategy. Maybe they should have been more realistic in their expectations to start with.

“But what is less commented upon is that overseas students are fast becoming one of the most vulnerable groups in our society.”

They know the terms of their temporary membership to this society before they arrive, they are individually responsible for managing the expectations they and their families might place upon them.

“Ask any petrol station attendant, a car wash worker or taxi driver and there is a good chance that they are an international student”

I recall pumping petrol prior to acquiring my professional credentials, it is what most students do who do not have wealthy parents.

“For me, there was the difficult decision by my parents decades ago to board a plane and start a new life in an unknown land.”

Every migrant to Australia has walked that path.

I guess you have summed it up pretty well Leigh.

As for exams and the pressure to pass. That is nothing new, one of my lecturers had been an examiner and would receive papers from overseas students advising how they were desperately in need to pass the exam because their village in (say) Africa were relying on it. He failed them every time, pointing out if they had actually tried to answer the paper they might have passed.

Another colleague of mine teaches psychology and was regularly being told by students that she was expected to pass them because of the fees they had paid. She too ignored the subtle intimidation and maintained her professional objectivity and thus preserved her reputation.

Then we have the students who buy a paper degree from some bonko website and parade themselves as being appropriately endorsed.

A lot of folk are out to cheat the system, the only defense any organization has to retain its standards and reputation is to resist all attempts to defraud the stated standards.

A great article that aptly describes the parlous situation of underprivaleged overseas students and the main reason why they are here.
What concerns me most is there is never a suggestion by anyone to improve the outcome for the student, their homecountry and Australia. The whole population thing is made out to be the students fault and all the bile from anti "others" is left festering with no sollution.
When do we start to look at the "holistic" picture instead of just us? The only way out of this mire is to help third world countries get the same level of amenity, quality of life and choice we have in Australia. This will never happen while Australias population continues to rise. We have to demonstrate that a reduction in population is the only way to success.
Sure, all the education you like, especially for women and send them all back home with stories of what life can be like which gives them something to aim for.
Third world countries need all the help they can get and us stealing their best and brightest will never solve their problem or ours.