Why has Australia outsourced immigration to universities?

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I have always described the higher education industry as the “middleman” of Australia’s immigration ponzi, effectively ‘clipping the ticket’ and privatising the gains from high numbers of foreign students while socialising the costs on the broader economy.

In a similar vein, Alan Kohler noted last week that “most of Australia’s migrant intake has been outsourced to universities and colleges, who see new arrivals as customers rather than migrants”.

“They use “education agents” in other countries to recruit them, paying sales commissions to spur them on”.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.