Which outcome? - education or migration

Since my last post about the adverse publicity received by migration professionals, I've been doing some more thinking about the problems faced by overseas students in Australia.

There are some clearly dishonest/disreputable practices going on. There are the "dodgy" colleges or course providers who are under resourced or over crowded can't deliver on what they promise. There are also the people perpetrating fraudulent english test results or fabricating job references. These people are ripping off foreigners and locals alike and should be prosecuted to the full extent that the law allows.

However, has government policy inadvertently created this problem? Many people choose to advance their education by studying overseas (if only I had the time or the resources to go to Oxford or Cambridge for a year) and then return to their own country with newly acquired knowledge and experience. Isn't the problem that the emphasis has shifted from achieving an education outcome to achieving a migration outcome. The introduction of the graduate student visa and the presence of trade occupations such as cook and hairdresser on the occupation in demand list, has encouraged the establishment of bad courses and colleges who have sold their wares on the expectation that if you do our course, you will be eligible for permanent residence.

This advertising has been very effective and many foreign students now have the expectation that they will be able to stay in Australia i.e. their study is a gateway to a whole new life, not just an opportunity to learn new things and go back to their home country to practise them! The balance has tipped in favour of the migration outcome rather than the education outcome.

Although it's true that it probably wasn't foreseeable that the unscrupulous would see it as a business opportunity, perhaps the introduction of the onshore graduate visa wasn't a great idea after all? Of course the flipside to that argument is that potential permanent residence is big incentive for some students to invest in their education in Australia. Unfortunately like all investments, there are good ones and not so good ones.