International students all over Australia are working in the worse places and in the worse conditions. It is a problem that is getting out of hand, this is only benefiting managers that do not want to hire workers under legal circumstances.

It all starts from their home country, a local agent promotes great deals to Australia, thousands flock to these seminars. They are told that studying in Australia is the best place to do it, they tell the would be students that although it is far it is well worth it. You can learn English really fast for only $450 a week, plus accommodation and living expenses. More over that jobs are available everywhere and easy to get, and that to stay it is very easy. The student goes back to his family, and decide to get a bank loan, usually students barely get enough to get here, once they get here they have to pay all fees upfront and they are left penniless. When they think they can get a job easily and in anything, they find themselves almost homeless, and with no place to work.

The student looks for other people from his country and the only jobs that are usually available are for cleaning. The student is told by his friend that someone from their country is managing the place and that the manager will hire them and take care of them. The first week of work is easy, he just has to clean one floor, but the next week he has to clean like every body else 3 to 4 floors in a matter of 3 hours. The boss then calls him privately and suggests him to work cash in hand telling him that earning cash will earn him more money. The student not knowing his rights and benefits of earning the wage legally agrees, and next thing you know he is in a nightmare. Every week the boss forgets to pay him, he asks him to work over time, he doesn’t pay the student properly. At the same time the student has to pay rent, food, transportation and leisure.

There are thousands of international students that are going through these scenario all over the country, but who is it to blame? The student for not following the rules? The university for allowing agents to lie about the way of life in Australia, or the companies that recruite international students hoping that they can get away by paying them less? Universities have a great responsibility with international students, universities should provide proper information about the lifestyle in Australia, they should ensure that students know their rights at work before they intend to start working. The reason international students get abused is for the simple fact that they do not have enough knowledge about the legal wages and all the benefit’s a worker get if he works legally.

Not much has been written on this issue, in fact it is an issue that no one in the international education business touches. At the beginning of last year I asked an international student leader what he thought it should be done about this and he simply said: “We should speak to the government so it only allows rich students to come”. I was shocked to hear that from the representative for international students, but this issue is more about keeping the matter in the dark as it might affect the market. International education should be about allowing people from all backgrounds to be able to come to Australia to educate themselves and take something back to improve their lifestyle and to contribute to their society. So far students are coming to fill in the vacuum in areas where locals don’t want to work any more, and it is becoming a new form of slavery, part of the whole scheme of cheap labour around the world.