IN Vegas, ‘whales’ gamble so much the house lays on all sorts of complimentary goodies to reel them in: flights, rooms, food, booze, the works. This is standard practice the world over. Core earners for casinos – which is to say, losers – whales are VIPs. Melbourne University – no sawdust joint – likes the idea:
One of Australia’s most prestigious universities is offering cash grants of $7,500 to help Chinese students get around the coronavirus travel ban and resume their studies.The University of Melbourne is offering the grant to cover eligible expenses including accommodation, airfares and quarantine costs …
The offer comes after the University of Western Sydney and Adelaide University offered students smaller amounts of $1,500 and $5,000 respectively.
The grants could enable students to return to Australia by serving a two-week quarantine period in a third country after leaving China.
More at the link, including reaction from the scheme’s most trenchant and well informed critic – Associate Professor Salvatore Babones from the Centre for Independent Studies. Babones, whose warning about the overexposure of Australian universities to Chinese enrolments was reported last year, regards the cash-for-quarantine plan as dangerous for the students and “morally indefensible.”
New from Babones: Australia’s Export Exposure to China’s Coronavirus Epidemic.