Private colleges are finding creative ways to get around caps on international students, including converting master’s programs into research-based degrees and filing official forms with incorrect names.
Other strategies include massive fee discounting and huge commissions to agents as colleges try to enrol as many students as they can before caps come into force on January 1 if legislation is passed when parliament next sits in November.
Amendments to the bill were scheduled to be debated after a Senate report recommending it proceed was tabled on Wednesday evening.
But the legislation was not listed on Thursday, keeping the education sector in suspense until the next opportunity for parliamentary debate in five weeks.
Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson has not revealed whether she will support the caps, but observers say it is almost a foregone conclusion.
That is because the Coalition’s migration agenda is far harsher than the government’s, and the caps would help the opposition meet its ambitious targets.
“The Coalition would rather Labor take the heat on doing the dirty work to bring the numbers down,” said Andrew Norton, a former political adviser and higher education policy expert from Australian National University.
“Labor hasn’t responded too harshly to their critics on this because they actually like the impression they’re doing something about migration. So the sector squealing in pain actually tells the electorate what Labor wants them to hear.”
New tactics
Colleges, however, are already working on ways to get around caps.
New manoeuvres that have come to light include providers seeking advice on how to convert postgraduate degrees into ones that are exempt from the caps, and wrongful or misleading information on official forms. Filing forms with incorrect information allows dodgy providers to poach students who are already in Australia on a visa, without alerting authorities.
That is on top of vocational colleges offering vastly discounted fees, 50 per cent cash-back guarantees on $1600 visa application fees and fast-tracked certificates of enrolment (CoEs), despite government promises to crack down on such practices.
Desperate colleges are also stacking several courses into packages to ensure students can stay longer in Australia, shoring up their cash flows, and giving agents commissions of up to 50 per cent or up to $5000 cash incentives.
Education consultant Michael Milgate told AFR Weekend he had been approached by at least six providers seeking his advice on how to switch their coursework master’s into research master’s degrees.
Under the proposal, students enrolled in research-based master’s and PhD programs are exempt, as are students from Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, those on Australian government or approved scholarships and those involved in so-called twinning programs, where they complete part of their degree offshore and part of it in Australia.
“These colleges are aware there are no caps on higher degree research courses and those degrees give graduates better points for immigration,” Mr Milgate said.
“These are teaching-focused institutions now wanting to offer higher-degree research programs to get around the issue of caps and using education as a means of immigration. The loophole is there.”
If the provider could meet certain standards, the regulator – the Tertiary Education Standards and Quality Agency – could not deny course approval, he said.
Some of them have had an 80 or 90 per cent fall in their numbers. They’re doing whatever they can to survive.
— Unnamed education agent
“It could take a year or more, but there are providers now progressing their course developments,” Mr Milgate said.
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**PAYWALL:**
Private colleges are finding creative ways to get around caps on international students, including converting master’s programs into research-based degrees and filing official forms with incorrect names.
Other strategies include massive fee discounting and huge commissions to agents as colleges try to enrol as many students as they can before caps come into force on January 1 if legislation is passed when parliament next sits in November.
Amendments to the bill were scheduled to be debated after a Senate report recommending it proceed was tabled on Wednesday evening.
But the legislation was not listed on Thursday, keeping the education sector in suspense until the next opportunity for parliamentary debate in five weeks.
Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson has not revealed whether she will support the caps, but observers say it is almost a foregone conclusion.
That is because the Coalition’s migration agenda is far harsher than the government’s, and the caps would help the opposition meet its ambitious targets.
“The Coalition would rather Labor take the heat on doing the dirty work to bring the numbers down,” said Andrew Norton, a former political adviser and higher education policy expert from Australian National University.
“Labor hasn’t responded too harshly to their critics on this because they actually like the impression they’re doing something about migration. So the sector squealing in pain actually tells the electorate what Labor wants them to hear.”
New tactics
Colleges, however, are already working on ways to get around caps.
New manoeuvres that have come to light include providers seeking advice on how to convert postgraduate degrees into ones that are exempt from the caps, and wrongful or misleading information on official forms. Filing forms with incorrect information allows dodgy providers to poach students who are already in Australia on a visa, without alerting authorities.
That is on top of vocational colleges offering vastly discounted fees, 50 per cent cash-back guarantees on $1600 visa application fees and fast-tracked certificates of enrolment (CoEs), despite government promises to crack down on such practices.
Desperate colleges are also stacking several courses into packages to ensure students can stay longer in Australia, shoring up their cash flows, and giving agents commissions of up to 50 per cent or up to $5000 cash incentives.
Education consultant Michael Milgate told AFR Weekend he had been approached by at least six providers seeking his advice on how to switch their coursework master’s into research master’s degrees.
Under the proposal, students enrolled in research-based master’s and PhD programs are exempt, as are students from Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, those on Australian government or approved scholarships and those involved in so-called twinning programs, where they complete part of their degree offshore and part of it in Australia.
“These colleges are aware there are no caps on higher degree research courses and those degrees give graduates better points for immigration,” Mr Milgate said.
“These are teaching-focused institutions now wanting to offer higher-degree research programs to get around the issue of caps and using education as a means of immigration. The loophole is there.”
If the provider could meet certain standards, the regulator – the Tertiary Education Standards and Quality Agency – could not deny course approval, he said.
Some of them have had an 80 or 90 per cent fall in their numbers. They’re doing whatever they can to survive.
— Unnamed education agent
“It could take a year or more, but there are providers now progressing their course developments,” Mr Milgate said.