A lecturer at a university in Australia offered pass marks to three Chinese women students in exchange for sex, a commission has said.

Former lecturer at the Curtin University in Perth Nasrul Ameer Ali allegedly exchanged pass marks for sex with three young Chinese students, who were under 'enormous pressure' to qualify so that they could secure permanent residency as skilled migrants, the Western Australia Corruption and Crime Commission said in a report.

Ali, who began working at Curtin in 2004, was hired as a casual academic in the business school without an interview or reference checks.

After he was reported to the commission for his alleged crime, he was hired to teach in the business school at Murdoch University.

However, a 'non-disclosure order' from the commission prevented Curtin from saying anything to Murdoch, The Australian reported.

The commission said Ali ultimately admitted he was offering pass marks for sex, but said 'he only wanted to see if they would agree' and had no intention of following through.

None of the women wanted to press charges and the commission makes findings on the balance of probabilities only, it said.

Competitive and commercial pressures could make universities reluctant to report abuses, and exploitation of students was 'likely to be more widespread across the university sector', it added.