All about a fair go

PREETI JABBAL reports on the work undertaken by the overseas students network support centre in Melbourne

Is Australia the right choice for Indian/ International students? In his recent trip to India, Premier John Brumby assured everyone that it certainly is, however, the 1500 calls received by a newly formed overseas student’s support network belies the claim that things are entirely satisfactory with Australia’s international education sector.

Rob Palmer Executive Director of OSSNA claims to be inundated with calls from students after an article on OSSNA, written by Sushi Das, was published in The Age recently. OSSNA also came into the limelight for supporting the case of Jaspreet Kaur, an Indian student who is seeking deferment from a private college in Melbourne.

According to reports Jaspreet Kaur, 24, arrived in Australia in April this year to study information technology. She paid in advance for the first two terms of the course. She says she discovered she was pregnant after two weeks of starting her course, and then fell ill with what was later diagnosed as a recurrence of malaria. She was only able to attend for a few weeks and switched to patisserie cooking for the second term when she found the IT course too tough, and paid a further fee for equipment and the next term of the new course.

Jaspreet and OSSNA claim that her Institute was more interested in the $7000 worth of fees she has paid, rather than her welfare. But the college claims she should have sought a deferment earlier, and they started the process of reporting her to immigration for nonattendance as per their standard procedure. The Immigration department asked Jaspreet to seek deferment from her course, however her college rejected her initial appeal for deferment.

Jaspreet and her husband Kulwinder Singh are keen to go back to India so that Jaspreet can have the baby and receive treatment for her recurring fever, however, without a deferment she could lose her student place and risk having her visa cancelled, besides being banned from returning for three years. Jaspreet’s college has since confirmed a deferment of nine days and Jaspreet was expected to resume classes by 28/09. At the time this report was written, the matter was still under dispute.

“There are many stories of discontent amongst the International student population here in Australia. Countless overseas students are being fleeced by offshore agents and unscrupulous local private college operators Students are commonly tricked and ripped off. Some are placed in courses they did not enrol for, and threatened with deportation if they refuse to pay extra money or pay in advance,” informed Tess Lawrence, journalist and advocate who recently joined OSSNA as a consultant.

OSSNA was incorporated in May this year,