Australia’s international students cry foul over demands to take $400 English test multiple times

International students are spending hundreds of dollars on mandatory English language tests that expire after two years – even if they have completed degrees in English and lived in Australia for years.

Students say they are frustrated and believe there is a conflict of interest between the organisations that set the rules and administer the test.

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To apply for an Australian visa, international students are required to pass one of five accepted English language tests. But even after they have passed and completed study in Australia, they must retake tests to enter some workplaces or undertake further study in Australia, such as master’s or PhDs.

For instance, international students who have completed nursing degrees in Australia must pass another English language test to get registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

Most students sit the $400 International English Language Testing System (Ielts) test which is used by 11,000 organisations around the world and jointly owned by the British Council, Cambridge University Press and Assessment and the Australian company IDP Education.

IDP Education is a top 100 ASX listed company and 19 Australian public universities are shareholders in it.

Among them are Group of Eight members Monash University, the University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney, UNSW and the University of Western Australia. IDP’s senior leaders include a council member at a prestigious university and a vice chancellor.

At the same time, universities are responsible for regulating IDP as it is an education agent that provides course selection assistance, visa and admission applications and accommodation advice.

A government inquiry into international education has suggested there should be more oversight of universities’ responsibility over education agents, with the Labor MP and committee chair Julian Hill telling parliament regulating agents has become a question of “how and when” not “if”. The inquiry is not specifically about IDP.

When it comes to Ielts, universities are regulating a company that has universities as shareholders. The institutions are also reaping rewards from millions in profits generated by the Ielts test.

Yusef, who has had to pay $1,600 on four three-hour Ielts tests during his eight years in Australia, believes it is a conflict of interest.

“You have to again sit the test that universities have shares in,” he says. “There is a definite conflict of interest.”

The Greens education spokesperson, Mehreen Faruqi, said forcing international students who “already pay a fortune” to study in Australia to repeat tests was “yet another example of the way this country treats international students like cash cows to be milked”.

“It makes no sense for students to have to keep taking this expensive test over and over again,” she says.

“Insisting on multiple such tests, even for students who have completed tertiary education in English, has xenophobic undertones and clearly disadvantages students who didn’t grow up speaking English.”

A home affairs department spokesperson says the government remained committed to using English language requirements to “manage immigration risk” and “ensure visa holders are able to fully participate in the Australian community”.

Yusef says he is lucky compared to his friends. He says some of his friends have taken the test multiple times, including failing some tests. One of his friends had taken it 12 times. And he says the burden of $400 tests is particularly crippling after spending tens of thousands of dollars in upfront fees to study Australian courses.

“After spending years of your life and a lot of money, they give you a degree and don’t accept it as a proof that you can communicate in English language,” says Yusef, who asked to use a pseudonym due to visa concerns.

“The degree should be proof enough that the student can communicate.”

Universities generally require students to receive a 6.5 out of 9 on Ielts tests in order to study at Australian institutions and score a minimum of 6 in each module, up to 7.5 for more complex courses.

The duration of Ielts is generally two years in Australia but can be valid for three years for skilled migration applications.

On its website, Ielts notes: “Based on the well-known concept of second language loss … the Ielts partners recommend a 2-year validity period for the test results, while it is up to each organisation to choose a validity period that meets their needs”.

IDP did not wish to comment on the record on who sets the validity period or the claims there was a conflict of interest in the ownership and regulation of Ielts.

Students in countries including Iran, Pakistan, India and China who are grappling with extended security clearances to obtain visas for Australia have also had to retake the test after their results expired.

Iranian student Mahshid, who did not want his surname published, has peers who have completed the test multiple times after gaining entry to Australian universities because their visa outcomes have dragged beyond two years. He is still waiting for his student visa after applying 16 months ago.

“It’s a loop where Iranian students are deferring, losing their offers after a year and reapplying, taking new English tests and losing their other work and study opportunities in this long waiting period,” he says.

The International Education Association of Australia chief executive, Phil Honeywood, said the federal government had flagged during a recent migration review that it wasn’t “entirely content” with the current English language arrangements, but there was a “danger in the pendulum swinging too far”.

“We have to be careful and nuanced,” he said.

Universities Australia, the peak body representing Australian universities, was approached for comment.