The Queensland Audit Office has released a new report warning that the state’s universities have become too reliant on international students for revenue, with the University of Queensland (UQ) now deriving more than half its fees from this source following 83% growth since 2014:
Queensland universities are becoming increasingly dependent on revenue from international students. While the primary source of revenue is still funding related to domestic students, a competitive domestic market and the Australian Government funding freeze have led to universities seeking to increase their revenue from international students.
The growth in international student revenue continues to be greater than the growth in domestic student revenue. Since 2014, revenue from international students has increased 59.8 per cent to $1.4 billion, with 18 per cent growth in 2018 alone. By comparison, domestic student revenue remained steady in 2018 at $2.5 billion, with 12.5 per cent growth since 2014.
All universities have increased the proportion of student revenue derived from international students since 2014…
For the first time, a university has received more revenue from international students than from domestic students. The University of Queensland has increased its revenue from international students by $261 million (83.6 per cent) since 2014, with 50.6 per cent of student revenue now derived from international students as shown in Figure 2F.
This year, over 85 per cent of international students were from Asia, with China and India contributing over 50 per cent of students…
Two universities rely on one country to provide more than 50 per cent of their international students. The remaining five universities are reliant on three countries to provide 50 per cent of their international students.
UQ’s over-concentration of international students is not surprising in light of economics lecturer, Dr Cameron Murray’s, damning testimony last year:
A thread on my experience:
1. 90% of students in my economics masters classes are international.
2. Half of them struggle with basic English
3. When I ask in tutorials why they are doing the degree, half tell me that they “need more points for their residency visa” (1/n)
4. They tell me they choose economics because they can do the maths but don’t need to understand anything or write anything.
5. I always set written essays or reports. Students tell me that they know other students are using paid ‘essay writing’ services to pass my class (2/n)
6. If half the class can’t understand English it brings down standards. It must—unless I fail half the class.
7. Think about the incentives—a casual lecturer who costs $25,000 fails 50 students paying $250,000. Change lecturer next year or reduce intake to keep standards? (3/n)
8. It is frustrating when top international students from foreign governments/central banks come to your class, then sit next to rich Chinese (almost always Chinese) who can’t understand a word and are there to buy a visa (4/n)
9. The evidence shows the effect on standards is real. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027277571200028310
None of this is a secret. That research is from 2011. Here’s an article from 2014: https://www.smh.com.au/education/academics-accuse-universities-of-addiction-to-international-students-and-their-cheating-20141112-11lbdi.html
10. Unfortunately, this reality conflicts with the widely believed myth that our immigration program brings in “high skilled” workers.
11. 350,000 international students paying $25,000+ per year to study is $9billion being pumped through our top dozen universities. (6/n)
12. Halving the number of international students would keep all the good students, boost standards for all, and remove the visa scams.
13. But this would remove $4.5billion per year of revenue to the universities. (7/n)
14. In sum, universities are being degraded so they can be used as a back-door immigration program, and no one at the senior levels of universities or major political parties want to change it.
15. It is nearly career suicide for younger academics to say anything about it (8/8)
I forgot to add that almost every student I failed or called out for plagiarism got second and third chances until they passed. After the first chance it is taken out of my hands to higher ups at the faculty…
Clearly, UQ has dropped its standards in order to push through as many international students as possible – a situation that has been replication across Australia:
A 2015 ICAC investigation entitled “Managing corruption risks associated with international students”, made similar observations with regards to NSW universities:
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“The growth in supply of university places globally is outstripping the growth in the number of students with suitable academic capabilities and adequate English-language proficiency.
Competitive forces have pushed the level of English-language proficiency that some universities in NSW demand below what is considered necessary to complete some courses. In the search for international students, some universities in NSW are entering markets where document fraud and cheating on English-language proficiency tests are known to exist. They are using large numbers of local intermediaries – sometimes more than 200 agents – to market to and recruit students, resulting in due diligence and control challenges…
Universities in NSW… [have] created incentives for staff to build on international student numbers and lower English-language proficiency entry requirements”…
The fact of the matter is that when you commercialise education, and treat the student as a customer to be milked for profit, it inevitably creates a culture whereby students feel they have a right to purchase the qualification they have paid for, rather than earning it. Degraded education standards and cheating is the inevitable result.
Given the widespread corruption within Australia’s universities, it’s time for a Royal Commission.
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
