Filipino students duped, depressed by education promises
Friday, 18 May 2018
Depressed international students claim they were enticed here by a corrupt industry, with one student alleging he was refused a $17,000 refund for a 'useless' diploma.
Filipino Rex Velasco, 29, said an Auckland Cornell Institute of Business and Technology staff member told him a level six hospitality diploma would get him a job with an employer-assisted post-study work visa.
The staffer contacted him online for months encouraging him to study here before he paid Cornell to enrol in the Diploma of Hotel Management, he said.
Two months into the course, Velasco realised he could not qualify for a one year post-study work visa with a level six diploma; he needed a level seven qualification.
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But Cornell refused him a refund if he left the course, he said. 'There was no backing out.'
Cornell suggested he pay $3500 to switch his qualification to a level seven course but he could not afford it, he said.
Velasco graduated from the course late last year, however, he could not work more than 20 hours a week under his international student visa restrictions.
He said he felt depressed and frustrated. He was financially dependent on his parents in the Philippines and his partner, who was a nurse in Auckland.
His partnership visa allowed him to work full time in the next month, but he said the course was worthless when looking for a job.
'I want to rip it up. It's useless.'
He wanted to warn other international students about private training establishments (PTEs) recruitment claims..
'[PTEs] just want to make money with the students who do not know what is happening here.'
PTEs must be registered with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), which conducts annual reviews and investigates complaints.
Velasco did not lay a formal complaint about Cornell with NZQA.
Cornell operations general manager Jun Kim said Velasco raised his grievance with Cornell in April and the matter was 'resolved' in June.
The institute worked in the best interest of its students, he said.
Staff did not advertise work visas as a reason to study in New Zealand, he said. However, the recruitment information included 'possible employment opportunities,' he said.
Like most PTEs, Cornell had staff that organised contracts with Filipino immigration agencies to recruit students. It paid them about 20 per cent of students fees in commission, Kim said.
A former international student working as a caregiver in Auckland on a post-study visa, said she considered committing suicide after she was 'lured' to study at the troubled PTE, International Academy of New Zealand (Ianz), by a Filipino immigration agency.
The agency advertised PTEs and the health course she enrolled in as 'prestigious,' she said.
Ianz was sold before being liquidated last year, according to Companies Office records.
Complaints of fraud against Ianz were investigated by NZQA in 2016. It was found to have passed failing students and turned a blind eye to plagiarised assessments, according to NZQA investigation documents released under the Official Information Act.
The graduate agreed she should have done more research into PTEs before enrolling at Ianz.
She could not be identified because she had signed a non-disclosure agreement with the FIlipino agency she used to enrol at Ianz. It was a 'gag order', she said.
She did not want to return to the Philippines because her family had turned their backs on her, she said.
'My future is unclear, my dreams [are] still hanging by a thread and my bank loans [are] still above my neck. It even came to a point that I wanted to end my life.'
Another former PTE student Pino Andres started a blog to warn other Filipinos about immigration agencies' 'deceptive' advertising.
Andres came to study in New Zealand in 2015 after attending immigration agency events. They told hopeful students studying was a pathway to residency, he said.
He spent about $45,000 on study fees and living costs while in New Zealand, he said.
Agencies told him he could find work easily after he graduated but he could not get a job in Auckland or the regions related to his qualification and became depressed, he said.
He returned to the Philippines last year. He was still trying to recover the money he spent.
'You almost give everything up and realise what these agencies promote is very far from reality.'
Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said he had concerns about the low-level courses at private tertiary institutions that were 'designed to attract students who are seeking a pathway to residency.'
He was preparing policy proposals on the issue, he said.
'This Government plans to return our export education offering to one that is focused on providing quality education, not on being a back door to residency.
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Lifeline (open 24/7) - 0800 543 354
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Your local Rural Support Trust - 0800 787 254 (0800 RURAL HELP)
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For further information, contact the Mental Health Foundation's free Resource and Information Service (09 623 4812)