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Australian degrees: Would you like a visa with that?
Dylan Lautner
Australia, October 19, 2009 - In Sydney Australia's the Coupling paper qualifications with green cards has helped turn higher education sector into an industry bigger than tourism. Linking diplomas with permanent residency visas has helped draw in almost 500,000 foreign students and annual revenues of 15 billion Australian dollars ($12 billion).
However a bonanza that saw the fees from foreigners generating 20 percent of the higher education sector's income is coming to an end. The lax guideline that allowed dishonest operators to flourish damaged Australia's brand and made the US, Canada and Britain more attractive to those wanting prestigious degrees.
A crackdown on shady operators coupled with tougher immigration rules is also crimping numbers because colleges can no longer promise that their diplomas will lead to a visa.
Bob Birrell a demographer at Melbourne's Monash University said that they are just on the threshold of dealing with all the social, immigration and other issues that arise from allowing this juggernaut to go unchecked.
Birrell has long railed against a system where a qualification from a local institution counts toward getting a visa.
In recent years, diplomas in cookery, hairdressing or other vocational disciplines were worth enough points to deliver permanent residency.
Author Site
10/19/2009
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