Enquiries on studying in Australia drop in India

Kolkata, Oct 28: Enquiries on studying in Australia have dropped in the country following attacks on Indian students down under, according to the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI).

"There's been a significant impact on the number of enquiries," said Gulshan Kumar Pathania, president of AAERI, an independent organisation registered under the Societies Registration Act of India.

"Some particular regions in India have already witnessed almost 30-50 percent decline as compared to last year," Pathania told IANS on the sidelines of an interactive session here Wednesday.

According to him, AAERI had received far less number of enquiries from Punjab this year, mainly on account of growing parental concern over their children's safety in Australia.

"This decrease has mainly been seen in the segment of vocational students who migrate to Australia for short-term professional courses," Pathania said.

"But the actual number of Indian students going to Australia has not been affected. Last year, about 40,000 Indian students migrated to Australia and this year (in 2009-10), we're expecting a 20 percent growth."

This is a significant increase from the 10,000 Indian students who went to Australia in 2004-05.

AAERI has now prepared an eight-point action plan to safeguard Indians opting to study in Australia.

"The Australian government has also asked its universities to register all the agents who are into the business of educational cooperation programmes," Pathania said.

"The Australian High Commission in India is also recommending students to come to Australia through AAERI," he added.

There are 38 government and three private universities in Australia, one of the largest markets for Indian students who pursue education overseas.

"In the past couple of months, no major incident of attacks on Indian students has been reported. So we expect that the overall scene will improve shortly," Pathania said.

"These attacks are mostly stray incidents and have got no connection with racial discrimination."