International students with no interest in education are using fast-tracked childcare courses as a pathway to permanent residency in Australia and posing a risk to child safety, industry experts and insiders have warned.
New 10-month graduate diploma courses offered by institutions such as Southern Cross University (SCU) require no prior early education experience and as a result are attracting foreign students aged in their 30s and 40s with backgrounds in other fields, such as IT and engineering.
Immigration expert Mark Glazbrook told ABC’s 7.30 many applicants were open about simply wanting a course that could get them permanent residency and having zero interest in childcare, creating a situation where providers delivering fake qualifications were springing up to meet demand.
“A large number of these students are not genuine in their desire to work in the childcare sector,” Mr Glazbrook said.
“It should concern every Australian that we have people coming into Australia on student visas that are studying courses just to use that pathway to get permanent residency. They’re looking after our children and in some cases they’re not attending their classes.”
The Australian Skills Quality Authority last year cracked down on dodgy private vocational colleges, revoking about 2,000 childcare certificates from four institutions caught issuing fraudulent paperwork.
An insider at SCU, where 6,000 mainly foreign students joined its $25,000 early education diploma courses in just two years, confirmed that many were enrolling in the hope of eventually obtaining permanent visas.
“Childcare services are recognising that students are quite openly telling them that they are only there to get their permanent residency and that’s why they are undertaking the course,” they said.
Childcare centres around Australia have reported serious issues with such graduates, including inappropriate physical contact with children, disregard for safety rules and practices, ignoring children in distress, and falling asleep while supervising, experts said.
“Student has been taking children away from educators alone, continuously, has not responded or stopped when asked,” internal documents from a childcare centre seen by 7.30 stated.
“Even has been asked in home language with no change. No observations or documentation has been completed at all despite support. Has said they do not need to engage in any learning and they are only here to get their visa.”
On Tuesday SCU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tyrone Carlin, said in a statement that he was “extremely proud” of the graduate diploma, and that he was “enormously confident” in the preparations students receive while at the university.
“Our Graduate Diploma of Education (Early Childhood) is fully accredited by ACECQA (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority). As part of their qualification, students are required to undergo multiple professional placements, which the University arranges for its students,” he said.
“We have invested heavily in the infrastructure necessary to do this, and we will continue to put significant effort into ensuring students receive meaningful developmental opportunities on placements with reputable, high-quality early childhood providers.”
The revelations come amid a nationwide debate about child safety at daycare centres after a childcare worker in Melbourne was charged with 70 sex offences against eight children.
On Wednesday The Sydney Morning Herald revealed the University of Sydney’s annual misconduct report showed that there were 3,498 academic policy breaches in 2024, and more than 1,000 cases where students failed a subject due to cheating.
Foreign students, who are 46% of enrolments, made up 91% of academic misconduct reports, which included the submission of fake medical certifications and the use of AI and ghostwriters to cheat.
Herman Chan from Academic Appeal Specialist, who provided the report to the Herald, said some students came to him for help after being caught.
“I had one case where a student admitted she didn’t do any of her assignments herself throughout the degree. She struggled with the first one, got a ghostwriter to help, and then just kept using ghostwriters from start to finish,” he said.
“The problem isn’t just misconduct, it’s a combination of low entry standards, inadequate academic support and a lack of proper early intervention.”
Header image: Southern Cross University (Scu.edu.au).
