AAP
March 22, 2011, 6:03 pm
Students 'paid to clear test'
Three students have confessed to paying their way through clearing an English test to obtain residency in Australia.
Three foreign students have told a West Australian corruption hearing they paid thousands of dollars for fake English-language credentials to help them gain residency in Australia.
The state's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) is investigating allegations a staff member at Curtin University of Technology was paid to falsify English-language competency tests.
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an important part of visa applications for permanent residency and student visas.
Indian national Harinder Jit told the hearing on Tuesday that a workmate told him he could pay to have his score altered if he sat the test at Curtin.
Mr Jit had previously taken the test at Edith Cowan University, but he had failed to gain a high enough score.
He said he paid the workmate $2500 in 2009 to arrange for his scores to be changed to an overall mark of seven, and later paid a further $3200 for his wife's scores to be changed to an overall mark of eight.
The couple have since applied for permanent residency.
Student Rikenkumar Vaishnani also testified that when he failed to reach his desired score, he paid a housemate's friend $11,000 to have his score altered in 2010.
"He said don't ever disclose this matter to anyone," he said.
Mr Vaishnani said although he was in two minds about whether he wanted to make the payment, he eventually decided it was what he needed to do to gain his desired score of seven.
He had done the test previously at the University of Western Australia and at Curtin but was "disappointed" with his score of 6.5.
Another student, Vishnal Pandya, told the hearing he had failed the test several times in India and Australia before paying $1500 to have his results falsified.
Mr Pandya said he helped four friends do the same, and they paid various sums of money for their results.
The assistant secretary of the Department of Immigration's labour market branch, Peter Speldewinde, told the hearing on Monday that deliberate falsification of scores could undermine the integrity of the IELTS.
The hearing continues.
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