Nixing the nexus

Australia needs to break the link with migration if it wants to fix international education, some claim. But will that really improve things? John Ross reports.

Welcome desks at international airports, safety awareness forums, surveys of overseas students' feelings. As the new academic year gears up, Australian institutions clearly don't want a repeat of the 2009 annus horribilis in international education. The federal government doesn't either. It's got a few irons in the international education fire, and they're all glowing at the same time. Last month, the government launched its latest overhaul of skilled migration, partly to remove incentives for low-quality colleges to set up shop as de facto visa factories. And last week it attacked the...