Problems emerge when an increasing number of Chinese students choose to study in foreign countries. Many students have complained that agencies have misled them and that they have had problems with their overseas universities, colleges and schools.

Nick (not his real name) is one of them. The 28-year-old who now works as a taxi driver in Melbourne went to Australia with his girlfriend early in 2006, one year after graduating from university in China.

His father is a municipal government official and his mother a former worker for a State-owned factory. His father had saved for five years in the hopes of buying a car but, when the family decided to send Nick to Australia, they abandoned the car-buying plan and threw their support behind him.

Nick found an agency via the Internet that was based in his hometown in Hebei province.

"They claimed that they had helped many Chinese students enrol in colleges and schools in Australia and Canada," he said. "We knew almost nothing about overseas study then. But my parents hoped that we could get Australian citizenship as soon as possible."

The agency recommended Nick and his girlfriend attend a 20-week language program, and told them the language school cooperated with a college that they would subsequently attend, so they would not need to take any language exams after finishing the program.

Nick said they thought about attending a language school in Melbourne but the agency told them the school it recommended in Adelaide was better and said it had sent many students there.

When they arrived in Australia, Nick discovered many problems.

"I only needed to attend a 10-week program based on the IELTS score I had in China," he said. "The agency said we do not need to take the IETLS test again, but we still had to pass a language test set by the school, which is as hard as IELTS. The agency never mentioned that before."

Nick and his girlfriend were unsatisfied with the arrangement. So, after they finished the first 10-week classes, they withdrew from the school. With the help of a Chinese agency in Adelaide, they finally managed to go to Melbourne in March 2007. But they had to start over - including the language courses.

"I planned to enter a local college in Melbourne, but the agency told us that studying with more Chinese students at an international school could help reduce culture shock and help us make more friends."

Once again, Nick followed the agency's suggestion - to study cookery at the school. However, the private school was shut down eight months after he enrolled.

"I did not know what to do. In China, I had never heard of a school suddenly shutting. I felt like I was abandoned by the school and the society," he recalled.

"I am not interested in cookery, but it could have helped me gain more points in my immigrant evaluation. To get the permanent residency that my parents hoped for, I had to take the course."

Three months later, Nick was transferred by the private school to another private school, which was also full of international students.

"The international school also got shut down due to its bankruptcy later in 2009," said Nick, who graduated in mid 2009 with a diploma. "I am lucky that I finished my study before its closure.

"I've spent almost four years in Australia, but I think I've wasted a lot of time and money by following those unreliable agencies' suggestions."

(China Daily 01/12/2010 page28)