Australia Cracks Down on Education Providers, Agents In Visa Overhaul

A general view of University of Technology Sydney campus in Sydney, Australia, on April 6, 2016. Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

The Australian government has strengthened regulation around international education providers amid an ongoing crackdown on the industry.

On Oct. 2, the federal Labor government announced measures to tighten loopholes in the country’s migration laws that it says have been exploited by educational institutions and agents.

The measures were introduced in response to serious integrity issues across the sector identified in an independent review of Australia’s visa system (the Nixon review).

The review (pdf) found that many educational agents engaged in falsifying documents to help international students obtain visas. Some even got involved in student visa fraud.

There were also cases of education providers colluding with agents to facilitate student visas and funnel those students into criminal activities such as prostitution.

It was reported in 2015 that unregulated education agents received around $250 million (US$160 million) from Australian universities each year to help recruit international students despite many of them being corrupt and involved in fraud.

New Changes to the International Education Sector

Under the changes, the government will introduce risk indicators across the sector to monitor compliance.

It will also raise the standards required to gain and hold registration and prohibit owners of educational centres from having a stake in migration agencies.

At the same time, agents will be banned from receiving commissions when transferring international students from one education provider to another.

This approach will ensure that unscrupulous agents and providers will not have the incentives to engage in student poaching.

The government also promised greater transparency in the recruitment of international students by allowing education providers to have more access to agent performance data, such as student completion rates and visa rejection rates.

This will help them choose qualified agents as partners.

A general view of the Flinders University Sturt campus in Adelaide, Australia, on Nov. 30, 2020. Kelly Barnes/Getty Images

Education Minister Jason Clare said the measures would strengthen the integrity of Australia’s international education system.

“International students are back, but so are the ‘shonks’ seeking to exploit them and undermine our international education system,” he said in a statement.

“The Nixon review identified the need to increase monitoring and compliance in the international education sector, and the government is responding.”

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said the reform would remove dodgy providers from the sector.

“This is the first of many announcements this week to restore integrity to international education and to our migration system,” she said.

“The party is over. The rorts and loopholes that have plagued this system will be shut down.”

Meanwhile, Universities Australia, a peak industry body, showed its support for the government’s latest crackdown.

“We are fully supportive of the government’s focus on putting students first—that’s where they belong,” Universities Australia CEO Catriona Jackson said.

“Universities have called for action in this space, and the enhanced monitoring and compliance measures announced today send a firm message to dodgy agents that we are cracking down.

Australian Universities’ Global Rankings Drop

The government’s announcement comes as top Australian universities see a significant drop in global rankings.

According to the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the University of Melbourne–Australia’s highest-ranking university–fell three places to 37th in the world.

Monash University dropped ten places to 54th, while the University of Adelaide tumbled 23 places to 111th.

The University of Sydney fell from 60th to 54th, while the University of NSW dropped from 84th to 71st.

The Australian National University’s (67th) and the University of Queensland’s (53rd) rankings also slid by five and 17 places, respectively.

Times Higher Education chief global affairs officer, Phil Baty, said the figures were a “serious” warning for Australia and urged the government to pay attention to the education system.

“The relative isolation of the country during the pandemic is showing up in the data, to detrimental effect on universities’ ranking positions,” he said.

“Real attention is needed to ­ensure Australia continues to be open to international talent, which includes the right policy incentives as competition for international talent heats up.

Mr. Baty also urged the Australian government to provide more funding for university research.