The competition asks prospective students to send a virtual postcard explaining how an Australian education will help them achieve their future ambitions.
The students vying for a slice of the lucrative prize of free education, flights and accommodation for a year certainly think it’s a good deal. Taimoor from Pakistan writes that ‘the study environment of Australia is very attractive and friendly for international students.’ Sharmeen from the Philippines writes, ‘I always dream of studying in Australia and gain world class education and opportunities.’
While each of the 260,000 international students granted a student visa in the last financial year all hope for a friendly study environment and world-class opportunities, sadly it’s not always the case.
Keen to secure a place to live before they arrive, international students can be easy targets for dodgy landlords. Often people pay bond in advance only to find the tenancy doesn’t exist upon arriving in Australia. Once here, there are other forms of exploitation that can occur. A young female student was evicted from her CBD unit at 11pm as she was unable to pay an on the spot rent increase. Another student was told a new flat-mate would be moving in, but with no spare beds, she was told it was her bed the new house-mate would be sleeping in.
International students are also often vulnerable to exploitation at work. We see students being encouraged to work more hours than their visa allows in exchange for working less hours another week, say during exam period. When the student stops being paid and asks for their wages, the employer threatens to report them to the Immigration Department for working those extra hours, jeopardizing their visa.
Like Taimoor and Sharmeen, we know our universities are world class. It’s time we made sure that the places international students live and work are world class too.
This article is an excerpt from an opinion piece written for The Australian by RLC’s International Student and Regional Legal Assistance Program Solicitor, Kate Gauld. Read the resultant article in The Australian here.
