ICEF Monitor – Australian anti-corruption commission highlights risks and best practices in international recruitment
20 May 2015
A recent report from Australia’s New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has touched off considerable debate in Australia as to the incidence of fraud in international student recruitment, including related impacts on academic standards in the country’s universities.
Learning the hard way: managing corruption risks associated with international students at universities in NSW is based around a series of observations as to the potential fraud risks facing universities in New South Wales (NSW), the most populous region in Australia and home to the capital of Sydney as well as 11 universities. Essentially, the paper asserts the following:
The significant enrolment of foreign students in Australian universities (international students account for about one-fifth of total tertiary enrolment in NSW today), along with the increasing international competition for those students, has created a conflict between institutional goals to maximise international revenues and compliance with academic standards.
An “academic standards gap” – that is, the admission of students who do not fully comply with academic requirements, particularly in terms of English proficiency – has contributed to a greater incidence of academic misconduct, including plagiarism or other forms of cheating.
Universities in NSW rely heavily on international agents – the Commission reports that as many as 60% of international students at the state’s universities are recruited via agents – whose interests, ICAC suggests, “are not fully aligned with those of the universities. The student capability gap is not central to their concerns. They are more interested in ensuring the students that they recruit enroll successfully so they can receive the commission.”
“Read the full article on ICEF Monitor” – Source: http://monitor.icef.com/2015/05/australian-anti-corruption-commission-highlights-risks-and-best-practices-in-international-recruitment/