Corruption Matters - November 2014 | Issue 44
The international student business: risks and challenges
While Australian universities appear to deliver a single product of student education, there are two fundamentally different business models behind this product: the domestic student business and the international student business. The two are quite different and consequently pose different risks and carry different challenges.
Domestic students move into universities through a well-established and centralised local bureaucratic system. The system in NSW includes closely-monitored schooling standards, well-controlled universal examinations, a Board of Studies, the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank and a centralised university admissions process. The university is the final step in an integrated bureaucratic apparatus with well-established standards and controls. The revenue largely follows the stable student intake.
The international student business is as different from this as possible; more akin to a private international professional services business. It involves international marketing, dealing through foreign local agents, unfamiliar student ratings, variable integrity of test results, including English tests, global competition, and immigration requirements. There is a different and complex regulatory environment in Australia that involves monitoring and reporting on visa matters such as attendance at classes. Student numbers and revenue can be volatile.
The incentives and opportunities for corruption are quantitatively and qualitatively different from the domestic student business. For some international students, the education is more about immigration than education. Agents generally work on commissions paid for placing students in universities. Although called "agents", they are generally working with several universities from around the world and will send students to where the commissions are high and where the student is likely to pass. False documents and qualifications are common in some markets, making it hard for the Australian university to verify. English testing centres are reputedly corrupt in a number of places.
In addition to gaining an automatic placement at a university in return for paying high fees, many students also expect a degree at the end. This can lead universities to feel pressure to pass international students rather than risk developing a reputation as a university that takes money but does not give a degree. Often, universities tie funding of departments to international student numbers, unintentionally creating further pressure to turn a blind eye to problems.
Within Australia, some groups actively support cheating. From the writing of assignments through to student impersonators who will sit exams using false university student ID, there is a small industry built around cheating. This becomes even harder to control in distance education and off shore delivery of courses.
The challenges and risks of the international student business are high and the universities know it. The ICAC has met with all of the publicly funded universities in the state to understand the range of steps they are taking to control the risks. The Commission will soon release a publication that brings together the insights of the different universities to provide support to the process of collaboration and information sharing that already exists within the sector.