Blog 10: "Overseas students 'starved'"

According to the article “Overseas students 'starved'” the demand for International higher education is predicted to increase to 3.7 million students in 2025 from 2.2 million students in 2005 but there has been a steady decline in international student enrollment in Australian schools since 2010.  The International Education and Research Industry Action Plan found out NSW is in danger of losing its appeal as a destination for overseas students. It reported abusive host families, unsafe rental accommodation, expensive public transport, and the claim that students are being underfed by host families and students were living in overcrowded rental accommodations, illegal boarding houses and significant distances from their campuses due to shortage of accommodation in Sydney. Also it was reported students are being put at risk of assault walking home from their campuses to save on transport costs, as they are not eligible for concession cards. A member of the task force, David Bycroft, stated that NSW would be more attractive to international students if the recommendations were met. Bycroft said "What students are looking for is not just education but a lifestyle experience and a big part of that is accommodation and transport," "The number of international students has declined and we need to address that. Clearly there is responsibility on the government to improve transport and accommodation issues. “At the moment they are factors that would be contributing to less students coming to Australia because other countries are improving on those areas. We have to keep up with the rest of the world." The state government is supposed to provide a response to the recommendations in November.

If Australia takes the recommendations into consideration and make some changes I think the international student enrollment will began to increase again. I also agree with what David Bycroft said most students go study overseas for the experience they don’t go just for the education because they can get that from a school in their own country but they shouldn't have to put themselves at risk to abuse to learn about different lifestyles. There should be some type of repercussions for the host families that were mistreating the students because they shouldn't have signed up for the program to be host families if they didn't want the students to be there. As far as the overcrowded unsafe rental accommodations there should be some type of laws or regulations against this so the places could be fined or completely shut down.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/overseas-students-starved-20121029-28dvx.html