Australian universities targeted by organised crime

The $16 billion overseas student market in Australia has been rocked by allegations that organised criminal gangs have infiltrated educational facilities.

According to a report by the Australian Immigration Department the statistics that report on fraud in relation towards student visas was dominated to the tune of 40 percent by university applicants. In the past, private colleges and independent language schools were always the preferred option of people-trafficking operations that focused on the smaller vocational institutions.

However, the new report by consultancy agents Ernst & Young on immigration, which was obtained by The Australian newspaper under the Freedom of Information law proved unequivocally that tertiary education providers are being increasingly exploited by bogus students. The new surge towards fraudulent student visas in countries such as Australia is expected to continue as European and United States lawmakers clamp down on immigration.

In a ten month period till April 2009 fraud was involved in higher education at a level of 39 percent of total refusals for student visas, but this figure rose over the next two months to peak at 53 percent by June. The Ernst & Young report confirmed that the majority of fraud instances involved vocational or higher education operators.

The report has seen calls for Australian authorities working in overseas diplomatic posts to work more closely with their local governments to combat the rise of organised fraud which in itself is an acknowledgement that the problem is significant. The report should also worry university leaders who have long thought the problem was confined to private colleges.