An article in The Australian has revealed Central Queensland University’s longstanding practice of offering students incentives in return for recruiting their friends and fellow students to the university.

The recruitment scheme sees students awarded laptops, ipods and even airfares depending on the amount of students they recruit. According to The Australian, “recruiting six students earns a return airfare to the home country and seven earns a new laptop”. Whilst eight students equates to “a return airfare and accommodation for two family members at graduation.”

Critics of the scheme have warned that students recruited by students may not be informed with all the information needed for them to choose the right institution or course.

“During my time studying at university in Malaysia, the admission office often offered us incentives for introducing our friends to the university,” commented Malaysian born graduate Gabrielle Saw. “They paid us 700 ringgits or there about for every student we recruited. Sometimes I did feel compromised as I was trying to persuade my friends to choose my university for very selfish reasons.”

However Central Queensland University Vice-Chancellor Scott Bowman has defended the university’s actions, saying: “whilst different, we do not believe our programme has a negative academic impact.”

i-studentadvisor wants to know what do you think? Is it right or wrong for institutions to recruit in this way?