Dirk Mulder is the Principal of MulderPR, a strategy and marketing communications consultancy that specialises in International Education and the Founder of The Koala News, a dedicated Australian-focused international education news outlet.
With over 20 years of experience in International Education in both the public and private sectors, Dirk has over 10 years of experience as a Director in international Offices with Australian Universities and worked with Allianz Insurance across the Asia Pacific region. His views are regularly published in the media and can be seen in Campus Morning Mail, the Australian Financial Review and the ABC in both TV and online settings.
Dirk is a past member of the boards of Perth Education City (now Study Perth) and Education Adelaide, he has chaired the Universities of Perth International Directors Forum and has been a past board member of the Hawkesbury Alumni Chapter, his alma mater. He has also chaired the Perth Education City South Asia Focus Group, leading two state delegations to India.
Dirk holds the earned degrees of Bachelor of Applied Science (Social Ecology) and Bachelor of Applied Science (Systems Agriculture)(Hons) from the University of Western Sydney and a Masters of International Relations from Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia) as well as completing Leadership studies at NYU Stern School of Business.
Dirk is active in his local community of Port Kennedy, Western Australia – he currently chairs the boards of the Port Kennedy Progress Association and Endeavour Schools, he is a past board member of the Bendigo Community Bank (Rockingham) and the Global Friendship Committee of Rockingham City Council and a former board member of St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School.
The International Education Review DFAT committee has stated that the vocational education and training (VET) sector’s reputation will be destroyed if urgent action isn’t taken to clean up malpractice among international education providers. The story goes along the lines that some education providers working with international education agents steal students from public institutions for massive commissions, sell student visas and open “ghost schools” where students don’t attend classes and get handed qualifications.
The behaviour of the “bottom end” of providers is harming students and causing reputational damage but could also “destroy the social licence” of the sector if it wasn’t cleaned up. How widespread is this kind of practice? What is the responsibility of the education agent in assisting in the clean-up of international education? Can regulation fix the problem?