Australia is one of the top destinations for study and work for Nepali people. Studying in Australia has been a fancy thing in today’s world. Australia ranks 7 of the top 100 universities in the world and offers over 22,000 courses across 1,100 institutions. It is mind-blowing to know that students from Nepal, which has a total population of just 30 million, are now the third largest group of foreign students after the students from India and China, which have huge populations of 1 billion plus. In 2019, there were 65,746 enrollments from Nepal in tertiary courses, according to the federal government, more than triple the 21,000 who enrolled in 2016.
This disparity between annual income of Nepali and their overarching ambition to graduate from university degrees or vocational training in Australia that are expensive is quite disheartening. The per capita income of Nepal is just slightly over $1000. Education experts from Australia show their concern about this issue. They raise the question of how Nepali students are able to afford expensive tuition fees when they come from a very poor country. Research shows that Nepali students are much likely to take huge amount of loans from loan-shark to venture out for their degrees abroad.
The problem begins in the very first stage of the process. Hundreds of consultancies in Nepal feed the lie to the prospective students. The hope of a better education and prosperous future is marketed so well that the students overlook other difficulties and struggles that may come their way. But Nepalis also see study abroad as a gateway to working overseas and the consultancies are facilitating this. The consultancies know that in many cases, the students applying for Australian courses are more oriented towards finding a job and their secondary motive is education. According to the Herald, there is a 50-50 split in Nepali students who choose higher education in Australia—half choose university education while half are pursuing vocational training. Education consultancies say that more students are choosing vocational training because it is easier and cheaper to study, and while pursuing their studies, they can work on the side to make money. Therefore, Nepali students opt for Australian universities and private vocational colleges, often for the primary purpose of gaining working rights and permanent residency.
In Australia, international students are allowed to work up to 20 hours per week during semesters and full-time during breaks. It even allows secondary applicants for spouses on visas, which means students can bring their partners with them. The picture of living expenses and all the costs in Australia is much different than the one that consultancy paints for the students. The students immediately find themselves in desperateness to look for labor jobs to just survive and barely can even pay their monthly tuition fees. It leads to exploitation and inhuman living conditions for them, but they are compelled to take what their fate has become as they need to pay off the thousands of dollars of loan they have taken. The average cost of living in Australia is 350$ to 400$ a week which means most students need at least $1,400 per month to live. Monthly expenses can rise to as high as $3520 based on the accommodation, location and the transportation costs. Other costs include books and learning materials which cost around $1000 a year. Commonly, Nepali students are seen to be working in retail stores, and also in services which include supermarkets, petrol stations, call centers etc. And there are very few who are lucky enough to get jobs that match their field of study.
Few noteworthy issues have sprung in the past few years. One of them being the bane of hundreds of Nepali students who are enrolled at the Australia Institute of Business and Technology (AIBT) in Sydney but are unable to complete their course after the regulatory body, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), revoked the institution’s vocational education and training accreditation on 19 February. According to the authorities, the institute failed to demonstrate that its marketing practices were fair and factual, and had lied to students. It also could not demonstrate it had qualified staff. It has also emerged that at least 300 Nepali students have been enrolled in nursing courses in three other unaccredited institutions in Australia – the Sydney-based Australian Health and Management Institute (AMHI), Nurse Training Australia and Melbourne-based Education Training and Employment Australia. All three enrolled students without approval from the nursing and midwifery council.
The reality of hardships and uncertainty, Nepali students are prone to fall into depression. Only the ones that can amalgamate the family expectations and rise above their stuggles of maintaining expense in Australia can survive much longer. The beautiful pictures on social media of the pristine sandy beach and the pictures with exotic animals are somewhat the flimsy side of the experience. Hence, studying in Australia should be taken with a caution, by being knowledgeable and knowing before-hand about the real situation and circumstances that one may face.
