Australia : International students are cash cows?

There is also far less incentive for universities in Germany to “boost” their international ranking: As they’re not operated mainly for profit, there is no need to have a high international ranking if they don’t want to specifically attract a high number of foreign students.

For many universities, their ranking also seems a way to justify high tuition fees…

Universities are primarily for networking and signaling (career change), even at the undergraduate level. Not education.

As for international students being cash cows, yes, they are. It is a good way to immigrate to another country.

Sometimes masters degrees are cheaper and faster than immigration investment routes (US EB-5, Singapore GIP, Taiwan PBC). International students know this and universities know this. Hell, some governments know this and are okay with it.

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It’s almost like you get paid more for doing a better job :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

But a disclaimer that I do think most universities are over priced. And there are always cheaper options :man_shrugging:

This is, for example, not how it works in Germany. No matter how “good” or “bad” a (public) university is, it’s still basically free to attend.

Thus my argument that there is less incentive to reach a high mark on international rankings for those public universities in Germany. Lots of metrics to fulfill but almost no tangible benefits (except for reputation / standing).

On the other hand, I would assume that many of the top-ranked universities have entire departments who focus on how to keep and improve their ranking by specifically working towards the relevant metrics.

Again, that won’t be necessary if they do not market especially to foreign students for whom those rankings are very important.

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we have lots of Taiwanese apply, and we accept quite a few. I’m in Japan, BTW.

we’re accepting less and less Chinese, not that that is really relevant. But it is a sign that fewer are applying for PhD abroad these days than there used to be. I’m not sure if that applies to Australia. But more places doing STEM now have to assess whether or not taking the Chinese applicants on is a security risk.

not relevant in humanities and business in undergrad situation, which is where most of the Chinese are taking degrees overseas and especially in Australia.

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A better job at gaming the system, maybe.

I don’t think Stanford or Cambridge care much about the rankings, no. But when you see obscure universities in the top 100, probably that’s how they got there, yes.

The most prestigious universities tend to get students who can teach themselves. They can be selective and get self-motivated and genuinely intelligent students who the research oriented professors can mostly ignore. When weak students manage to get in, easiest to just pass them through…

It’s bad for some students

Which leads to massive job loss