Aug
30
2009
Australia has made good money in recent year by selling ther excellent education system to foreigners. Not only do Australian tertiary level (universtiies and TAFEs) set up campuses overseas, often in Asia, but many students come to study in Australia under student visas.
The publicity has been a bit ugly recently though with attacks on several Indian students in Melbourne leading to diplomatic level talks between Australian and Indian governments to try and difuse the situation. Then the collapse of a doubtful training provider saw large number of Indian student potentially out of pocket -though it sounds like the various insurance and government agencies will sort this mess out.
The point really is that the Australian tertiary education system is just fine - the problem is the student visa system which strongly favours those who have a student visa if they then want to apply for permanent residency. This is not, by the way for people with advance engineering or science degrees - no this is more for cooking classes and hairdressers! Now I would rather have my Indian chef trained in Bombay rather than Bondi! The opening for abuse is obvious.
Maybe too that the Australian government should be looking to the future - teaching sells is huge - but not at a country level - but online and globally - for just how much longer are students going to be prepared to spend thousands of dollars and move to a foreign country when the same education is available onlne and often for much lower cost?
The future is huge and but its online and many traditional education providers really need to be looking more closely at what their online competitors are doing.
Photo Credit
Aug
05
2009
The local Australia news is never-ending about the damage done to Australian’s superannuation investments with the property melt-down and share market implosion. Now the job crises means that the poor not-so-old, not-so-rich people can’t even get a part-time job!
Think out side the box people - a look north! Malaysia is one of the most pleasant countries in the region - a varied climate, nice people, modern infra-structure. It seems strange to me that people don’t take advantage of living somewhere so much cheaper for part of the year. And with Air Asia X’s flights from Perth starting at about A$100 its hardly expensive!
The Malaysian government’s Make Malaysia Your Second Home seems like a very good deal offering 10-year visas for self-sufficient retirees. Self-sufficient in Malaysia is a bit different from in Australia. The requirements for over-50’s in the program include:
- 150,000 ringgit (A$50,000) to be deposited in a Malaysian bank’s term deposit OR proof of 10,000 ringgit (A$3500) month pension/superannuation.
- After one year the deposit reduces to 100,000 - and difference can be used for buying a property in Malaysia or education or health expenses there.
In fact Malaysia is offering a much better deal to retirees than Australia does. There are incentives for the immigrants to buy cars. Other things that make Malaysia an attraction option includes:
- overseas income including pensions are tax free;
- there is no restriction on what type of residential home you can buy - unlike Australia you are not restricted to new properties;
- tax exemption on car purchase
- overseas income is free of Malaysian tax
- and a very attractive cost of living
Its certainly an option within reach for many Australians who would struggle to live on $3500/month in Australia would live very well in Malaysia for that amount.
Photo Credit
