Non-academic scholarships are deemed to damage Australia’s brand and its universities’ reputation.
This is based on an independent report titled the South Asia Education Strategy Report 2020-2025 by the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India.
The report is founded on views taken from 126 education agents located across South Asia. They aired their frustrations about discounts deemed to be scholarships as they were detrimental to the Australian education system.
Non-academic scholarships regarded as discounts
Education providers in Australia have become crafty as they are offering non-academic scholarships in the name of discounts to recruit more students.
This trend is associated with the brand name ‘Study in Australia,’ and the interviewed education representatives see this as a strategy of downgrading Australian education standards as some institutions seem to be desperate for numbers.
This is opposed to the norm, whereby universities present scholarships to genuinely deserving students on the foundation of their merits.
Fee discounts had become widespread across the region, making non-academic scholarships inevitable. As a result, genuine scholarships were being devalued as they are usually given based on academic merit.
As compared to South Asian nations, scholarships are purely based on high academic performance.
Non-academic scholarships propelled by education providers
Education providers have elevated the notion of discounts as part of their objectives is maximizing the number of students being enrolled.
Nevertheless, the report noted that many agents had a frustrating relationship with education providers. As a result, it was recommended that a rethink was necessitated so that agents could be viewed as colleagues other than just business partners.
On the other hand, a survey of 40,000 Australian graduates who graduated back in 2016 was tracked for 3 years, and it was found that after a period of 4 months, 7 out of 10 are working full time. Whereas after 3 years of graduation, this figure jumps to 9 out of 10. The average salary at the beginning was a little shy of $59,000, but this number rose to almost $73000 by the end of 3 years.
