Thanks for this brief reminder of one of my favorite cities – which sadly, is becoming increasingly too expensive to enjoy in the way I did many years ago as a grad student spending summers there.

Forgive me if I offer a small correction and commentary on Oscar Wilde, however. It is worth pointing out that the charge of gross indecency on which he was found guilty was the direct result of his own effort to sue the Marquis of Queensberry for libel. During the libel trial, testimony about Wilde’s affairs with Queensberry’s son, Lord Alfred Douglas, and other young men became scandalously public, and it was that public airing of his sexual exploits that could not be overlooked by the authorities. Victorian London was happy to ignore the sexual peccadilloes of everyone from the Prince of Wales on down, but being too public was too much.

More importantly, however, Wilde is generally believed to have died of meningitis, not from absinthe consumption. The history of the absinthe ban in France in 1915 is a complex one, and was, if anything, part of a wider anti-alcohol movement in Europe and the U.S. in the early 20th century. A vicious murder in Switzerland in 1905, attributed to absinthe intoxication, was probably a more direct cause of the French ban a decade later.

This change seems like a useless and destructive witch hunt by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.  If you read the second link, the senior officer said “DIAC officers would take into account factors such as whether or not the proposed course of study would improve the applicant’s career prospects in their home country or globally.”  Are there economists within DIAC who are experts in the needs of the various countries where the students come from and making admission decisions?  Or are decisions going to be made by clerks who themselves haven’t even finished university?  

Furthermore, the same officer said “DIAC also would consider whether or not an applicant had good reasons for coming to study in Australia if a similar course was available in the home country.” If that’s the case, they can kiss the international students bye bye.  How many universities offer business and economics degrees?  There you go.  Sometimes very good students go overseas to study because there is a shortage of places in the universities in their own countries.  There is also the perception (rightly or wrongly) that an Australian degree is superior than their own university.  So, is the decision going to be a flat out rejection of these applicants just because the universities in their own countries have those courses or programs?  It sounds like the officer and the whole DIAC don’t understand the complexity of people’s decision making process in choosing where to study and which university to study in.  

I see a number of things happening in the higher ed sector in Australia if this plan goes ahead.  First, further drop in the number of overseas students in Australia.  New Zealand, Canadian, American, British, and an increasingly number of European universities that have converted their degrees into English are more than happy to welcome these students.  Second, bums on seats will shrink and there’ll be further slashes to the courses/programs and faculty members.  For some useless programs, this might be necessary.  However, certain professional programs that are usually in high demand will be collaterals.  

What is not written in the news article is that the applicant (most likely the parents) would have to show that they have enough money in the bank to complete the education (3-4 years), including the ability to pay for living expenses.  That means they would have to show that they’ve got about $100000 in their bank account.  The bank manager would need to produce a letter certifying the parents’ ability to pay.  While this might not be a problem for most parents from Asia, what about people who don’t have that much money lying around but who are still able to meet their payments?   
If there is one USEFUL change that DIAC is looking to implement (to keep their bureaucrats busy and working), that would be to collaborate with universities in the area of students’ attendance.  I remember attending high school in Australia as an overseas student and we had to maintain a certain percentage of attendance or else immigration would be informed, and subsequently deportation would follow.  Why this is not enforced at a university level baffles me.  I had seen a few students who skipped more than 50% of their classes.  So there you go.  If you are a bureaucrat working in Canberra, take these points into consideration before you decide to roll out something haphazardly.