Parents and students warned about Australian study tours

Education experts have cautioned Chinese parents and students that the benefits of study tours to Australia could be less than expected.

Hu Dan, deputy head of the Australia studies center at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said study tours to Australia had become popular among Chinese students, in part due to the country's beautiful scenery, yet accidents had occurred during some tours and there had been other complaints, which should sound the alarm for students.

Many study tours had become travel tours, with the time spent studying accounting for only a small amount of the tour, Hu said.

International education had become a very important industry for Australia and its government had relaxed the regulation of study tours, with many study tour companies lacking proper credentials, staff members and teachers, she said.

Chen Hong, head of the Australia studies center at East China Normal University in Shanghai, said some companies had been established by people with no experience in international education and lacked the basic ability to host students from China.

Many study tours took place in already crowded cities like Sydney, which might have problems handling large numbers of students from China, he said.

Australia should diversify the destinations for study tours and instead of only going to the most populous state, New South Wales, Chinese students could also visit other states with good education resources, such as Victoria and Queensland, Chen added.