By Gurbir Singh
New Zealand, August 10, 2017: New Zealand’s $4.5 billion education industry is currently reeling under tremendous pressure due to the cases of alleged corruption and fraud involving Indian student market.
Last three years of boom that made India second-largest and fastest-growing source country for international students, has already slowed down.
As a result of the exploitation of the Indian student market by some tertiary institutes and businesses, the trust that entire private tertiary sector enjoyed appears to have been ‘destroyed’, a view expressed by Christine Clark, Chair of Independent Tertiary Education NZ that represents majority of private institutions.
Blame for this goes to some individual staff of education providers allegedly “involved in bribery and corruption, and facilitation of immigration fraud”; handful of rogue Indian employers in New Zealand who reportedly charge illegal money from vulnerable students in return for job offers and education agents in India who allegedly were committing fraud in student visa applications.
There are also reports in local media of a group of influential men who have a significant hold on the large network of agents in India. They are reported to have been collecting 60 per cent of the student fees as their commission. However, after Immigration NZ’s warning, some of the tertiary providers have reportedly already disassociated themselves from these men.
According to the documents and emails obtained by Radio New Zealand and NZ Herald newspaper under the Official Information Act, “(marketing) managers of 17 private training enterprises (PTEs) and 5 polytechnics” were on the watch list of Immigration NZ for “suspect corrupt activities in the Indian student market”.
Documents also revealed "Issues include significant conflicts of interest (such as having financial stakes in offshore education agencies or onshore high risk places of employment), alleged bribery and corruption, and facilitation of immigration fraud...”
One report of Immigration NZ has also suggested in some cases there was a nexus between marketing managers of tertiary providers and education agents in India.
In one case, they were providing a package that included a student visa for study, and residency through employment at one of the several family-owned businesses.
Immigration NZ is also reported to be investigating allegations where desperate Indian students were asked to pay (and having paid) as high as $20,000 by Indian employers to get job offers linked to their work visa.This illegal payment was reportedly “probably widespread in the Indian business community”.
Even after obtaining jobs, the vulnerable students were substantially underpaid also. In one instance, it is alleged that students were paid an hourly rate of only $5.
Other factors responsible for fall in student enrolments include, reports of NZQA ‘crackdown’ on rogue private training establishments with reports of at least 21 under investigations; some providers losing accreditation of courses for plagiarism and forthcoming changes to immigration rules that would make thousands ineligible to apply for residency because of new income thresholds.
The ramifications of reports of some Indian employers “deliberately creating connections with PTEs (private training establishments)” have been far worse than expected.
As a result, the entire private tertiary sector seems to have lost the trust because of what is happening in the Indian student industry.
Christine Clark of ITENZ, however, values students from India for their contribution to the local community.
Christine Clark
In a statement to this journalist today, Clark commented that “The emphasis by NZQA and INZ has focussed on our private providers and polytechnics and this has emerged from the problem stemming from the Indian student issues.
“The outcomes from investigations has revealed problems associated with markets, but initiated from the Indian. We welcome the investigations and actions that INZ and NZQA are taking. These actions are ensuring that the students, providers and NZ are being represented well.
“In no way do we undervalue our students from India, they are incredibly important contributors to our sector and community.”
Hopefully, the message will be loud and clear to the Indian stakeholders and actions initiated by Immigration NZ will help the robust private tertiary education sector to bounce back, and it continues to provide quality education for which it is well-known.
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Gurbir Singh is a New Zealand-based feature writer & journalist. He can be reached: gurbir@journalist.com and you can like him on Facebook