Australia cracks down on fake colleges, leaving Indian Students in crisis
Hundreds of Indian students in Australia find themselves facing an uncertain future after paying hefty admission fees to so-called “private colleges” that have now been shut down. The Australian government recently closed around 150 tertiary institutions for failing to provide evidence of legitimate educational activities, according to The Indian Panorama.
These closures have left many students—especially those from North India—without proper education or a clear path forward. Several of the shuttered colleges were connected to unscrupulous agents and study visa advisers from Punjab. For decades, these illegal institutions have been facilitating backdoor immigration and work rights under the guise of education.
The Albanese government, determined to end the exploitation of international students, launched a crackdown through the Australian Skills Quality Authority, shutting down vocational education institutes that failed to meet regulatory standards. “Under our government, there is no place for anyone who seeks to undermine the sector and exploit students,” the Minister for Skills and Training stated in a recent media report.
With students and their families paying lakhs in fees and still left in the lurch, this crackdown has not only exposed the vulnerability of international students but also the extent of visa fraud in the education sector
Students flock to these colleges every year, not for the promise of education, but with the understanding that they can work while their attendance and academic requirements are manipulated by agents. One student from Sangrur, who arrived in Australia two years ago, shared that his agent had assured him he could work full-time while his coursework and attendance would be “taken care of.” Now, his college has been shut down, and the agent, implicated in visa fraud, has closed operations.
Another student from Patiala, who had been working at a cafeteria in Adelaide with her brother, was instructed to return to campus, only to find her college sealed by the authorities. Both siblings had already paid their course fees and now face an uncertain path forward.
Many of these agents, responsible for sending hundreds of students to Australia, are now shutting down their businesses as stricter immigration and visa policies take hold. “I’ve closed my operations in Punjab after the crackdown in Canada and Australia,” admitted one such agent, who has placed over 250 students in Australia in the last four years. Despite the growing risks, agents continue to assure students that a solution is on the way.
Australia’s crackdown is not an isolated incident. In 2023, two Australian universities barred the recruitment of students from several Indian states due to a surge in fraudulent visa applications. This follows earlier bans and restrictions by four other universities, which flagged Punjab, Gujarat, and Haryana as high-risk regions for student attrition.
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