Degrees For Sale

What Happens When You Price Education Too Specifically

Yes, it's one of those Schadenfreude moments when you find out that there's been a solid trade in essay-writing for overseas students to pass courses. The problem runs in all sorts of directions so there is no wonder that the universities that have only just found out that the problem is endemic are not making any public comments. I can't imagine the University of Sydney would be up to offering any kind of insightful or helpful remarks - it's just not in its nature (like the scorpion in that story involving a frog and a scorpion)

Central to the problem is that if you sell a course for 'X' Dollars, then you've effectively made a commitment to give the buyer something in exchange for the price tag. The assumption in all this is that what is being sold is "an education".  The absurdity this is notion is brought forward when the said student then has to pass exams to prove they have learnt what was allegedly taught by the educators. It's clearly not like selling an object.

Worse still, the universities offering the course are biased, if not outright incentivised, towards failing students. If the student fails, then the university stands to gain even more money because the student has to pay again to do the course and try to pass. University admins in this country like to make friendly noises but it would be hard to navigate the alleged support being offered for foreign students. If one were a foreign student with little life skills and experience, the admin may be more intimidating than a source of assistance.

Worse still, the universities charge double what they charge Australian students for the privilege of studying in Australia. You can read that as the universities are raking it in, but you can also read that as the universities are selling out their reputations in exchange for money. This is pretty well understood by the students themselves; both Australian and overseas students know that the overseas students are specifically paying double because they're getting the name of the institution. I was told once by a local Law student that he welcomed this because the worse english writing skills of the foreign students pushed up his position in the assessments.

"What's not to like? They get to be Sydney Uni grads and I get to look better in my future job application," he grinned. That was 10years ago and he's done well for himself, she as proven correct.
The point is, the overseas students aren't meant to be the good students the universities build their reputations upon. They're meant to be the cash cows.

Imagine your lot then as a foreign student from a country where English is not the first language. You're over the barrel for a lot of money; if you fail, you're up for even more money when you try to re-take the course; and the university course wants you to write a bloody essay in English no less. While I don't condone cheating, you can see why there would be a demand for somebody to write the essay for these students.

Given all that, I don't see how the universities can be too loud about the fact that foreign students pay for help to get their assignments in. It certainly doesn't look like it's supposed to work any other way. No wonder they haven't discussed it out in the open and kept a lid on the topic for years.

"You Gotta Pass Me, I Paid For This"

The flip-side for students in courses paying expensive fees an going into debt is the expectation that they should get something for their money. The unfortunate consequence of that at a certain university in Canberra is that nobody fails. Nobody fails because if an academic should fail somebody, they open themselves to being queried by the student "but I paid for this. You have to pass me." This would lead to a lot of embarrassment for the institution, so nobody dares fail anybody in the context of fee paying students. Things sure were different back when fees were low. Students took your lumps in accordance with their efforts, and it was a lot more honest.

You sort of wonder how institutions really feel about handing out passes to students whose efforts would have not made the grade in a more honest marking context. You sort of wonder how long the institutions can maintain their reputations if they keep pushing out subpar graduates because they took their money. People are rabbiting on about how the commercialised cheating service of essay-writing is a problem but deeper down, the institutions have a lot to ask of themselves as to how they got into this mess. One would imagine the honest conversations are fairly strained and pained.

Then again, I'm happy it's not my immediate problem. Certainly the prospect of raising fees for tertiary education is not going to help alleviate the problem.