5 October 2013 - The Australian
“We don’t know if this is the start of a long trend or whether its just a blip at the start, but the numbers make us optimistic,” said Austrade’s John Angley.
Mr Angley said by midday yesterday the Win Your Future Unlimited site had received 48,000 visits, of which 38,000 were unique views.
“That’s a really positive sign,” he said.
Potential students are asked to design a digital postcard to explain why an Australian education would help set them up for their future career.
Mr Angley said the five countries that had attracted the most visits were: Vietnam, Brazil, China, the Philippines and Indonesia. The countries from which most of the 2000 entries had been drawn were: China, Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia and Croatia.
“Croatia is very interesting. It was eighth in list of countries with the most visits and fifth on number of entries. He said a recent education fair, which was given advance notice of the competition, and strong family connections were probably the reasons behind the strength of the response.
But a lawyer who represents international students in NSW said some core safety issues needed to be addressed if Australia was to capitalise on the huge potential success of the Austrade campaign.
If we’re going to such lengths to woo international students, the question is how are we treating them once they arrive?” said Kate Gauld, a solicitor with Redfern Legal Centre.
“While many of the 400,000 international students Australia plays host to every year report positive experiences, those walking through the our door at Redfern Legal Centre reveal a very different story.”
Ms Gauld said international students were “easy targets” for unscrupulous landlords and employers.
“One student was told she would be sharing a room with one other female. When she moved in, her room was the basement, her room-mate not one female but six males. Another student didn’t even make it that far: the $1400 bond he paid in advance was a scam, the room non-existent,” she said.
“These students are left with far from satisfactory legal recourse. In share-housing matters especially, they can fall between the cracks of the various Acts, between being defined as tenants or boarders/lodgers.
“Even when the law does offer international students protection, it is often too slow and cumbersome, with dates set for hearings months after they’ve returned home.”
