Additional Comments from Senator Hanson-Young
Introduction
Australia’s
thriving international education sector has come under local and international
media scrutiny over the past few months, following a series of reports
surrounding violent attacks against Indian students. This follows calls for
better assistance and support for international students that have fallen on
the deaf ears of successive governments and opposition parties.
Since then, an
intense spotlight has been placed on our international education sector, with
issues such as visa exploitation and discrimination within employment, student
safety, questionable information provided by education and immigration agents,
and sub-standard educational services and support by some providers,
contributing to the perception of rorting within our education sector.
According to
statistics from the Australian Education International Monthly Summary of
International Student Enrolment Data, as at June 2009, there were 467 407
enrolments by full-fee international students in Australia on a student visa,
compared to 204 401 in June 2002.
Background
This Bill seeks to
amend the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 to require the
re-registration of all institutions currently registered on the Commonwealth
Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) by 31
December 2010; two new registration requirements for education providers to
adhere to; and the list of all agents used by the providers on its website or
in any manner prescribed by the Regulations.
While the Greens
welcome moves by the Government to protect our third biggest export, questions
remain as to how the new registration requirements will actually work in
practice, and whether or not the amendments proposed within this Bill are
appropriately targeted.
The fact that Australia’s
international sector has grown by 19.6 per cent in the past year alone,
highlights the importance of tightening the regulatory frameworks within the
ESOS Act to ensure that we are providing the best possible educational
experience for international students studying within Australia.
It is important to
note that while the university sector originally accounted for the initial
growth in international students, since 2005, enrolments in the VET sector have
grown significantly, with the last twelve months seeing an increase of 39.3 per
cent.
The rapid growth in
the VET sector is largely attributed to courses within the cooking,
hairdressing and hospitality fields. It is also worth noting that the growth in
the number of Indian students partaking in these courses has increased from 217
enrolments in 2002, to 18, 269 in 2008.
While the Greens
support the intent of this legislation, we remain concerned that it fails to
adequately target the problem areas in our international education sector, and
is limited in its overall scope, with many areas such as student safety and
welfare not included in the Government’s initial legislative response to
concerns within the sector.
A major criticism
of the current Act is the lack of guidance given to the definition of support
services for students, which are simply left to the individual provider to
determine.
Issues in the Bill
Two new registration requirements:
Schedule 1 – 5 of
the Bill states that the provider must be able to demonstrate that their
principle purpose is providing education and have clearly demonstrated their
capacity to provide education of a satisfactory standard.
While this
requirement is fair and reasonable, there seems to be no further detail on how
these two areas will actually be assessed in a practical sense.
While the Minister
has stated in her second reading speech that breaches of the National Code can
result in enforcement action under the Act, the Greens remain concerned about
the capacity to properly monitor and enforce breaches of the Act and the
National Code without fundamental changes to the regulatory framework.
There is a clear
need for better monitoring and compliance mechanisms governing international
education, given the present Education Services for Overseas Students Act is
not much more than an aspirational document waiting for proper implementation
and enforcement.
Recommendation
No.1:
The Greens
recommend that the Government implement stringent protocols about how the two
new protocols are to be defined and applied by the state and territory
authorities to ensure that it is appropriately targeted.
Recommendation
No.2:
Given the
proposed Bill will require all providers to demonstrate their capacity to
provide education of a satisfactory standard, the Greens recommend that this
new registration requirement should also require providers to demonstrate that
they have the capacity to provide and define adequate student support.
Re-registration of all institutions
Given the main
intention behind the requirement for all education providers to re-register by
December 2010 is to restore confidence in the quality of education services for
international students, the Greens are concerned that this provision is not
appropriately targeted.
While the actual
process for re-registration is yet to be formalised, the Greens believe that a
more targeted approach that would prioritise the ‘high risk’ areas of the
sector is a more appropriate and practical approach in dealing with the current
turmoil in Australia’s international education sector.
Recommendation
No.3:
Given concerns
around the capacity of the regulatory authorities to take on the additional
workload of processing all the new registration applications within the set
timeframe, the Greens recommend that the Government prioritise the
re-registration of providers by starting with those institutions deemed to be
‘high risk’, followed by all remaining institutions.
A high risk
profile could be characterised by (as per Universities Australia submission):
A high
proportion of students from a single source country;
Provision of a
limited number of education programs;
A rapid increase
in enrolments in the recent period;
Previous
breaches of the National Code; and
A history of
visa fraud in student visa applications.
Regulation of education agents
An important
requirement contained within this Bill stipulates that a registered provider
must “maintain a list of the persons (whether within or outside Australia) who
represents or act on behalf of the provider in dealing with overseas students
or intending overseas students.”
While the Greens
are indeed supportive of this measure, we believe it should go further in
ensuring that education agents operating onshore or offshore are properly
registered, and quality benchmarks are set on a national level to spell out
what is and is not considered adequate information or advice for students who
are new to this country.
Recommendation
No.4:
There is a clear
need for sufficient monitoring of education agents operating on behalf of
institutions throughout Australia, and as such, the Greens recommend that rigid
education agent and provider protocols be developed to pave the way for a more
transparent system of monitoring the activities of agents and providers into
the future.
Recommendation
No.5:
The Greens
recommend that further to the development of standard protocols, the official
registration of education agents must occur to avoid the occurrence of
unscrupulous behaviour.
Alternative course provision
Under the proposed
Bill, Item 6 allows for regulations to prescribe the criteria for considering
whether a particular course is a suitable alternative for a student where a
provider can no longer offer a particular course.
In its submission
to the Inquiry, the Department for Education state that “the absence of clear
criteria to apply when determining whether a particular course is a suitable
alternative has presented difficulties for providers, tuition assurance schemes
and the ESOS Fund manager.”
The Greens believe
that it is paramount that where a provider has failed to fulfil its education
commitment, students are able to enrol in an equivalent course as soon as
possible, and that they do not incur any additional costs - given they have
already paid their course fees.
We also believe
that in legislating for the requirement for an education institution to provide
an alternative course, there must also be the requirement to provide students
with access to their full and accurate academic transcript.
There must also be
clarity over who is the responsible departmental contact for dealing with
student complaints and grievances with their education institution.
Recommendation
No.6:
The Greens
recommend that the ESOS Act and the Tuition Assistance Scheme (TAS) be amended
to include a definition of what constitutes a ‘suitable alternative course’ as
inserted under Item 6.
Recommendation
No.7:
We further
recommend that specific policies and procedures are implemented in the ESOS Act
to ensure that students who are affected by the closure of their education
provider, are given appropriate levels of support in securing their academic
transcripts, and provided with the recognition of prior learning when moving to
an alternative course.
International Education Commission
There is a clear
need for better monitoring and compliance mechanisms governing international
education, as at present, the Education Services for Overseas Students Act is
not much more than an aspirational document.
While beyond the
scope of this legislation, the Greens believe that an independent Education
Commission should be developed, to define minimum standards for information and
advice provision on a national level, and ensure that educational institutions
across the country are upholding their duty of care towards their students.
The role of a truly
independent Education Commission would ensure that there is appropriate
oversight of monitoring and compliance, when discussing the provision of
consistent, good quality education and support services in all states and
territories.
Recommendation
No.8:
To ensure
appropriate safeguards are in place, the Greens recommend that an independent
Education Commission be developed to oversee the improvement of three key areas
in the international education sector: immigration requirements, quality
benchmarks, and monitoring and compliance.
Senator
Sarah Hanson-Young
Australian
Greens’ Spokesperson for Education
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