Foreign students exploited by Australian colleges
Updated
Overseas students are being exploited by disreputable colleges and unscrupulous education agents in Australia, according to an ABC television report to be broadcast tonight.
The allegations on the ABC's Four Corners programme expose a number of cases where students have lost tens of thousands of dollars in their quest for education and a better life. The revelations come after weeks of intense interest in the cases of violent attacks against Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney.
Presenter: Lindy Kerin
Speakers: Pushpinder Kaur, mother of a Indian student Prabmeet Singh; Kumar Khatri, Nepalese student; Biwek Thapa, an Education and Migration education agent
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LINDY KERIN: Prabmeet Singh is one of around 70,000 Indian students who come to Australia to study each year. His family spent more than $40,000 on a course at a Sydney flying school, Aerospace Aviation.
His mother Pushpinder Kaur says the family is now broke and her son still has no pilot's licence.
PUSHPINDER KAUR: It is a fraud. It is, we were shown so many rosy pictures about the school and it is not what it is really, what it really is, it is only, it was just a scam.
LINDY KERIN: Other Indian students have told Four Corners the aviation college failed to deliver its promised 200 hours of flying time over 52 weeks.
VOX POP: I did 46 hours in 16 months.
VOX POP 2: I will use the word, wasted my time. Sixteen months being there.
LINDY KERIN: Aerospace Aviation's spokeswoman Sue Davis has defended the training and has questioned the level of commitment and dedication among the particular students.
In another case Kumar Khatri, an aspiring chef from Nepal came to Australia and enrolled at the Sydney cooking school, Austech. After six months he hadn't seen the inside of a kitchen so he decided to quit.
He received a letter from professional debt collectors telling him to pay $5,000.
He sought advice from Biwek Thapa, an education and migration agent who was dealing with six similar complaints.
BIWEK THAPA: I think it was a complete exploitation of international students because of their ignorance. They're new in the country. They're scared their visa could be cancelled; enrolment could be cancelled. They would get into all sorts of problem.
LINDY KERIN: Tonight's Four Corners program also reveals unscrupulous practices by migration and education agents.
An undercover reporter from the program met with two agents who offered English language tests and fake work experience documents in exchange for significant cash payments.
Karl Konrad an education and migration agent based in Sydney says he's been aware of the black market in dodgy documents for years.
KARL KONRAD: The fact that I was getting many of these type of stories that we sent that information to the Immigration Department and they in turn thanked us for the information and said they would pass it on to Trades Recognition Australia. Nothing ever became of that.
LINDY KERIN: The Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard was unavailable for an interview with AM about the allegations. So too was the Immigration Minister Chris Evans.
But Pishpender Kaur wants the Australian Government to take action. She says her son dream of becoming a pilot has been shattered.
PUSHPINDER KAUR: I think the Government should be more alert in these type of matters because it is, it is the career of the children which is at stake.
