Name: CHAN, Sin Fong
Subject: Decline in International Education industry
Visit Time: 30/09/2010 12:11 AM
Remark:
The change of government policies during mid-2010, and tightening the granting of PR to international students resulted in drastic drop of international students coming to Australia, so much so that the international education and student accommodation industries may face extinction.
The international education generated over $17b "export" income, and created unprecedented demand of sessional teachers, commercial building for classrooms, student accommodation, public transport usage, ethnic groceries, etc.
The spin-off of having these international students is that they provide lowly paid workforce doing all the menial tasks, and long unpalatable hours of work. While this may sound unethical, it does help many businesses to cut cost and increase productivity.
It seems many policy makers neither consult the industry players nor pay any attention to possible negative impact which may realise.
If the unfortunate predictions were to come true, we can see, first, a definite rise in unemployment - from teaching profession to many service providers. Second, many CBD's will experience population drop, and decline in vibrance. Third, the number of passengers using public transport system will also increase.
