According to the 2008 Global University City Index reported here which measures top cities in the world that house top universities listed in the Financial Times Higher Education ranking, Melbourne comes up number 4, following London, Boston, and Tokyo. Here are the top 10 winners:
The 2008 Global University City Index
London Britain
Boston US
Tokyo Japan
Melbourne Australia
Sydney Australia
Pittsburgh US
Paris France
Vienna Austria
Chicago US
New York US
The report cites Melbourne Uni, Monash Uni, and RMIT as the prestigious three universities that put Melbourne on the list. Hence, not only Melbourne is the second most liveable city (after Vancouver) according to the Economist survey, but it is now one of the top cities in the world that puts education as its premium. No wonder we have lots and lots of international students in Melbourne, 20,000+ of which come from Indonesia. Another good reason for me to reside permanently in Melbourne . . .
However, that's only half of the story. The other half is a bit unpleasant. According to research conducted by Monash Uni researchers (some of whom I know well), this 300,000+ international students in Australia make up what they call a vulnerable workforce. They found that many of these students are classified as 'at risk' financially and occupationally, that is they face severe financial hardship and are prone to their employers' exploitation. Read their publicly available report of the study entitled International Student-Workers in Australia: A New Vulnerable Workforce.
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