SP Newsletter No.292
International students in Australia have a reason to be concerned: aside from the ongoing violence and the unscrupulous employment practices that many have been subject to, it has recently emerged that 41 private education institutes across Victoria will be audited due to widespread scams taking place in the sector.

Following a year of complaints, the Skills Minister, Jacinta Allen has finally agreed to investigate the problems. This however was not before several large colleges closed mid-year leaving students thousands of dollars out of pocket and unsure of their futures.

The international student market is Australia’s third largest export market after coal and iron ore, taking in $15 billion in 2008. Governmental changes to skilled migration programs, which enable international students to apply for residency through particular skilled courses, have been a major contributor to the massive growth in this sector.

Dodgy private colleges eager to cash in on the international student market have sprung up over the last few years offering useless certificates for tens of thousands of dollars. At the same time unscrupulous landlords and employers are taking advantage of the influx of international students.

Profiteering in the education sector is nothing new. Following the deregulation initiated under the Hawke/Keating Labor government, students have become commodities to be traded and exploited for the benefit of private providers. Privatisation of education and the user-pays system also means that employers are relieved of paying for many of the costs associated with training workers.

Deregulation and user-pays has had an adverse affect on the quality of education in Australia. Many students are also now forced to work fulltime while studying and this leaves them unable to cover the entire curriculum for each subject. The system has also worsened the class divisions in society as richer students are able to afford the huge costs while poorer students have to miss out.

While all students do it tough, international students are the most exploited. Often they are forced to work very long hours in order to pay exorbitant upfront fees. Often, due to high rental prices, they are also forced to live huge distances away from both work and college without access to public transport concessions.

In a saner world international students would be embraced as welcome contributors to society. They would help to further our understanding of their countries as they experience ours. But under capitalism, where profits come before all else, they are seen as nothing more than cash cows.

Education should be a right, and not simply a conveyor belt into the work force. The Government should stop all funding to private education providers and instead expand the public sector. Strict regulations should apply to ensure quality education is provided across the board. If the profit motive was removed from the sector we could immediately make education from childcare to university free and accessible to all.

Happy holidays!

The Socialist Party wishes all of our members and supporters a safe and happy holiday season. We would like to thank you all for your time, effort, money and support during 2009. We look forward to a continuing the struggle with you all in 2010!

The SP National Office will officially be closed from December 18th 2009 to January 4th 2010. If you need to contact us during this time feel free to email or leave a message on our answering machine and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Most of the branches will resume regular branch meetings in mid January. Contact your local organiser for exact details. See details below.

News links: Copenhagen climate summit

Strong mood against capitalism - and its police force
http://socialistworld.net/eng/2009/12/1402.html

Copenhagen: 100,000 demonstrate
http://socialistworld.net/eng/2009/12/1301.html

Copenhagen: People’s Climate Summit
http://socialistworld.net/eng/2009/12/0802.html

CWI leaflet: Save the planet - fight capitalism!
http://socialistworld.net/eng/2009/12/0704.html

Join the Socialist Party

If you agree with what you have read in our newsletter or on our website you should consider joining SP. The Socialist Party has branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Perth as well as members and supporters in all other states.

We are involved in trade union work and student work. We also run community, anti-war and environmental campaigns. But most of all we want to build a party that will fight to get rid of the capitalist system, the system that is at the root of all of these problems. We fight for socialism - a system that will bring an end to wars, poverty and environmental destruction. To join SP contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111 and we will send you a membership application form.

Subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ newspaper!

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Socialist Party contact details

Melbourne: Phone Anthony on 0396399111.
Sydney: Phone Gary on 0297287727.
Newcastle: Phone Samantha on 0249681545.
Adelaide: Phone David on 0883441474.
Perth: Phone John on 0894020728.
Rest of Australia: Phone our National Office on 0396399111.
Rest of the world: Phone our International Office on ++ 44 20 8988 8760.

The Socialist Party is the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). The CWI is organised in over 40 countries across the world.

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