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Degrees of Deception - Four Corners. Monday 2. 0th April 2. Australia has been gripped by a national debate over how to fund our university education.

But perhaps there's a more important question: what is it worth? A Four Corners investigation has unearthed alarming new evidence of a decline in academic standards at institutions around the country. Lecturers and tutors are grappling with a tide of academic misconduct and pressure from faculty managers to pass weak students. Many say commercial imperatives are overtaking academic rigour. But why is this happening?

As Federal Government funding for universities has declined, Vice- Chancellors have been forced to look elsewhere to fill the void. And for much of the past two decades, they've been tapping into a booming market - full fee- paying overseas students. Right now the country's 4.

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Australian university and the possibility of a job and permanent residency. But to ensure a steady flow of students from overseas, universities have had to ensure their entry requirements are sufficiently low. This week, reporter Linton Besser also provides alarming evidence of corruption among the network of overseas agents who tout for business on universities' behalf."The risk is they're going to put applicants through to the university with fake qualifications or who they know have cheated on tests, or who are trying to undertake some sort of visa fraud." - Corruption investigator.

Ironically, these forces are also placing international students under enormous pressure. Despite the promises of agents, and after meeting universities' entry requirements, many don't have the level of English needed to successfully undertake a degree course.

It's a situation that leaves students isolated and desperate; a scenario fuelling a thriving blackmarket in plagiarism and the corruption of some academics. An experienced lecturer has told Four Corners the failure to maintain standards in the course she teaches means graduates could put lives in danger when they begin working."They might find themselves being the only registered nurse on duty. And that is something that frightens me." - University Nursing lecturer. With universities now hooked on the income derived from foreign students, very few university employees can openly acknowledge these problems. Good Will Hunting Online Putlocker. Those who do, say that they face the possibility they will lose their job.

DEGREES OF DECEPTION, reported by Linton Besser and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 2. April at 8. 3. 0pm on ABC. It is replayed on Tuesday 2. April at 1. 0. 0. Wednesday 2. 2nd at midnight.

It can also be seen on ABC News 2. Saturday, ABC iview and at abc. Transcript. KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: They promise a top- line education but they pay dodgy agents offshore to drum up business.. ROBERT WALDERSEE, DR., EXEC. DIR., CORRUPTION PREVENTION, ICAC: The university managers had personal and financial relationships with the agents. KERRY O'BRIEN: ..

ZENA O'CONNOR, DR., SESSIONAL LECTURER, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN AND PLANNING, UNI. OF SYDNEY: There is an unwritten rule not to fail students. KERRY O'BRIEN: .. LINTON BESSER, REPORTER: Would they have been safe in a hospital? BARBARA BEALE, LECTURER (RET'D.), SCHOOL OF NURSING, UNI. OF WESTERN SYDNEY: No. No way. ZENA O'CONNOR: Education is not an industry.

KERRY O'BRIEN: What is going on in our universities? Welcome to Four Corners.

They're supposed to be centres of excellence in learning. They're supposed to be securing this country's economic future and social wellbeing through the next generations of well- educated graduates. They're selling access to millions of foreign students and reaping many billions of dollars of revenue. But now the alarm has been raised that, increasingly, Australian universities are exposing themselves to corrupt practice, to lower standards, to systemic abuse of the system. One instance you'll see tonight is the revelation from whistleblowers that some foreign students and other poor English speakers are graduating as nurses from Australian universities, dangerously under- qualified. Universities have turned increasingly to foreign students regularly recruited through corrupt agencies to fill the gap left by a decline in funding from the public purse, which Education Minister Christopher Pyne wants to cut further.

Academics are under pressure to pass students, irrespective of their ability, in order to keep revenue from overseas students flowing in. Linton Besser's story tonight reveals a sorry state: corruption, widespread plagiarism, cheating and exploitation. LINTON BESSER: On this trading floor, an Australian commodity is running hot.

But it's not coal or iron ore for sale: it's our other major export to the world - tertiary education. This is the booming billion- dollar market in international students that now underpins the survival of Australia's universities. ROBERT WALDERSEE: Universities are fully aware there are problems with, with international student businesses they operate. But it is a very difficult problem they face. They are heavily dependent on the revenue. It's a cut- throat industry.

LINTON BESSER: Right now, Australia is gripped by the question of how to pay for our university education. But there's a more fundamental question to be asked: what exactly are we getting for our money? Have our universities traded away academic standards in the race for cash? ZENA O'CONNOR: There is a culture of leniency. Help them through, help them to get through.

Do whatever it takes. Bend over backwards.

Help them to get through. Let them resubmit and resubmit. PAUL FRIJTERS, LECTURER, SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS, UNI. OF QUEENSLAND: We've got to pass the vast majority of our students, no matter what their level is, no matter what their prior knowledge is, no matter how much or how little effort they put in.

ROBERT WALDERSEE: The conditions within the university are conducive to corruption. LINTON BESSER: The New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption has got some big scalps, including some of the state's most corrupt politicians. Now it's turned its sights onto universities. ROBERT WALDERSEE: Students being exploited; students cheating; students bribing academics; academics being pressured to turn a blind eye to problems.

LINTON BESSER: In a new report, corruption prevention director Dr Robert Waldersee has raised the alarm about universities' troubling use of agents offshore to recruit students. ROBERT WALDERSEE: So every single university we spoke to has said that, at some point, they've had problems with some of their agents: with false documentation and often collusion with their students. The risk is they're going to put applicants through to the university with fake qualifications, or who they know have cheated on tests, or who are trying to undertake some sort of visa fraud. LINTON BESSER: Four Corners decided to find out how education agents operate in Australia's biggest overseas market, China. We went undercover, inside agencies servicing Australia's universities.

Vice- chancellors have accepted as necessary the use of these unregulated middlemen to recruit the vast numbers of overseas students on whom they now rely. This Beijing agent is called Shinyway. It has represented universities including Queensland, Monash, Sydney, Newcastle, Southern Cross, ACU, ANU and UTS. Our undercover reporter is asking how the agent can help if his child has a poor academic record. He is then told Shinyway will accept a forged school transcript.

SHINYWAY ADVISER (translation): Make some variation and make it look normal. As long as it's not lower than 6.

I can process it. I don't want them to be written too high either. LINTON BESSER: This time, it's Edu. Global, who also represents a string of prestigious local universities such as Monash, Melbourne, Queensland, Griffith, Tasmania, Southern Cross, Western Sydney, Macquarie and UTS. UNDERCOVER REPORTER (translation): Is it possible to make it look better?

EDUGLOBAL ADVISER (translation): You can.