Below is a story in the Aus that caught my eye, but may have been missed by many because of the party politics being played out in Canberra.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/overseas-student-market-at-risk/story-e6frgcjx-1225882948204

Below is all the comments that followed

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/overseas-student-market-at-risk/comments-e6frgcjx-1225882948204

While I realize rhat this 'industry' brings money into the country, I cannot help but think that Aussie students are missing out and there have been allegations of some places dumbing down the courses to favour students that have poor English skills. There has certainly been expectations that permanent residency would follow the completion of courses. Making it a backdoor method of migrating. There also have been allegations of rental properties being out of reach for familys because landlords can get far more rent from a lot of students than a family.

The Unis and colleges were built with our taxpayers money for the benefit of Aussies and I can accept that we allow some students in from say our Pacific neighbours and so on, but when were we asked if they could turn our Unis into a large commercial enterprizes?

Some time in the last 15 years or so, Banjo. At the time, there was a paradigm that universities could be made self-sustaining, and the income could come from HECS fees and foreign students fees.

The push for educated and skilled migration also played a part, and thus the fact that having a degree from and Australian educational institution became an advantage when applying for residency. The market signals worked and thus we had the massive increase in foreign students (and the number of places).

But fear not, the enrollment system has always been weighted towards current residents and citizens, so the only reason that our kids could not get a place that they wanted was because they were either not good enough (i.e. dumbasses with unrealistic expectations) or they decided they couldn't live on the 'Youth allowance' or Austudy payment.

'We' made universities what they are, and quite frankly, that they have to rely on foreign students income to be sustainable is shameful. Tertiary education should be increased in the budget. Yeah, right, like that's gonna happen. Some people already think they are only exist to give misandrist feminists a job.

I note a common theme going through a lot of different government schemes that have developed over the past decade. Tailoring the standard or method to meet the economic need not the quality required. It is fairly typical of the current "ME" generation problem we have in this country.
The education sector should have nothing to do with immigration. Certainly if you have a qualification from an Australian university or RTO that falls into the current scope of skills shortages in our work place, it will be a big advantage for immigration purposes. But under no circumstances should anyone come here to study under the illusion that it is a gate way to residency. This (and i say apparently as i don't have the stat's to show it) apparently has eroded the quality of education in this country. If that is so we are in dire need of a major overhall of the system.
The big question is are we prepared to make the sacrifices to achieve this. If you want education to improve the government will need to invest large amounts of money into it as the export economy in this area will fall with the tougher standards making the UNI's less sustainable under their own income capacities.
The same can be seen in the environment debate. We all want change but we sure as hell don't want to pay for it. No ETS, no carbon tax just let business do it rationally. The only rational thing business will do is make profits for share holders. They will do this with the minimum of expense and they don't care about the national interest. I have no problem with that as that is what they are there for. But if you want standards maintained with a conscience about how that is achieved you have to pay. That means more taxes, less mega profits, a super system that isn't a lotto scheme and an attitude toward the development of the country that puts the outcome and standard first then tailors the economics to fit the need.

I think that Australians are benefiting from the large numbers of international students on our University campuses. The course fees from these students are helping Universities to build more facilities and employ more staff. Local and international students build cross-cultural friendships, and this has a positive effect on building international understanding. Learning and practicing cross-cultural communication helps to prepare students for work in our globalized economy. Finally, as someone involved in teaching these students at University, I can say that we are working to build the academic and literacy skills of all students, rather than dumbing down our courses.

I hope that the problem of immigration rorts can be solved, but we could benefit from more international students, not less.

A most interesting thread.

Banjo says://there have been allegations of some places dumbing down the courses to favour students that have poor English skills.//

Bugsy says: //We' made universities what they are, and quite frankly, that they have to rely on foreign students income to be sustainable is shameful. //

Nairbe says: //Tailoring the standard or method to meet the economic need not the quality required. //

But EXPAT manager .... has a different direction:

//The course fees from these students are helping Universities to build more facilities and employ more staff. //

I'm not so sure about that Expat.... from the other comments it seems more likely that they are reliant now....on foreign fees just to survive, let alone expand.

But as to the first 3 comments.. Nairbe gets it best I think "the ME generation".... yep.. concur.

But more... this whole mentality is going to destroy us.. but.. like smoking and cancer, it doesn't happen 5minutes after your first smoke.

We are facing that dark side of the human condition..selfishness.. otherwise called 'original sin'...

Imagine this. Standing outside (in my case) the local Kenworth Factory which regularly has strikes.. (but not during a strike).. with a large poster of a noticably Chinese man with a caption "Strike more..me want u job" and a nice map of china on the poster.

Or

"EACH TIME YOU STRIKE
CHINA COMES CLOSER"

I don't think it would go down that well with unionists..but, like the smoking/cancer thing... the causal link is sure.

Given that I don't know anyone ever elected to Union leadership on a platform of "I'll keep your wages the same..and give you job security"

It seems that our economic self destruction is assured...and..its our own stupid fault.

Hey Al, if your going to do the poster bit i want to be there to film it. Your right on with that, we don't seem to realise we create most of our own problems.