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Indians hit as Australia axes 15,000 student visas
Immigration
authorities in Australia have cancelled 15,066 foreign student
visas in the last one year, and the worst hit are Indians. Of the
total, 3,624 students lost their visas because they flunked in
some or all subjects or were
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Melbourne:
Even while the number of international students coming to
Australia continues to fall, Malaysia has replaced India as the
second largest source of students in the field of Higher
Education.
As a result, the losses suffered by the Australia international
education sector have ballooned to $2 billion in the last one
year.
While China has maintained its top position as the source country
(40 per cent), Malaysia is now on the number two position with a
distant 7.5 per cent. Indian contribution, according to the
September month figures made available by Australian Education
International, has plummeted further in both Higher Education and
Vocational Training segments.
A year earlier while China was responsible for 27 per cent of
international students enrolling in Australian university for
Higher Education courses, the Indian share was 15 per cent.
The overall fall in international students' numbers coming to
Australia, as compared to figures exactly one year back, is 9.4
per cent.
While often exaggerated news reports about the attacks on Indian
students Down Under have contributed to the dwindling numbers, the
so-called integrity measures adopted by the Australian immigration
authorities have also led to students being refused visas to study
in Australian universities and other higher education institutes.
Australian vocational training institutes have suffered the most
as most of the students coming from India were enrolling in
'Trade' courses like cookery, hairdressing, automotive
engineering, etc. A year back, India was the top source for
Vocational Training students accounting for 32.1 per cent
enrollments.
The decline in enrolment for Australian Vocational Training
courses has been the steepest of all as 17.5 per cent less
enrollments were recorded in as compared to September 2010.
"The number of Indian students enrolling in courses like cookery
and hairdressing is huge by any standard, leading to closure of
many institutes here in Australia," a Melbourne-based vocational
trainer Deepak Chopra told IANS.
Overall, India continues to cling to the second position as the
source country with 12.8 per cent of overall figure (519,025).
China has also maintained the top position by sending 28.9 per
cent of the total number of international students' enrollments in
Australian institutes.
The Australian government is making efforts to check the decline
as reforms based on 'Knight Review' have been approved and would
come into force by the middle of next year.
'Our international education sector is world class, and the
reforms announced today will help entrench Australia as a
preferred destination for international students,' Senator Chris
Evans Minister of Tertiary Education had earlier said in a media
release.
"The reforms will assist in ensuring Australia remains an
attractive study option and will offer practical support for
international education providers that have been under pressure as
a result of the high Australian dollar," Senator Evans added.
(Paritosh Parasher can
be contacted at paritoshparasher@yahoo.com)
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