Foreign students heading back to Australia says government report

Australia may soon be reclaiming its title as a popular education destination for foreign students, according to an article published in the The Australian newspaper. The article refers to a report released by the Australian government’s new International Education Advisory Council which says the country will host 520,000 international students by 2020, an increase from the current 402,000 in the country.

AUSTRALIA: BACK IN FAVOUR

About 80 per cent will be from Asia and they will bring in $19.1 billion into the economy.

Despite the upbeat projections, the numbers still won’t reach the ones the country achieved in 2009, when 630,700 foreign students reached campuses across Australia.

Tertiary Minister Chris Bowen said interest in studying here was already up, with an increase in higher education visas applicants in the last six months of 2012. Actual student numbers are predicted to rise next year.

Released by Bowen at a Universities Australia conference in Canberra, the report foresees a "new era of sustainable international education growth'' after the "unsustainable increases'' in the VET sector between 2006 and 2009.

Report heralds new chapter in Indo-Australia relations

“The growth of an Indian student presence in Australia has

been messy and tragic. But it heralds an important new chapter in Australia’s

place in its region.” (Robin Jeffrey)

Beyond the Lost Decade, released in Sydney on Tuesday by the Australia-India Institute, throws up some interesting facts about the student crisis and the India-Australia relations.

For instance, according to the report, the first violence against Indian students actually came from Lebanese taxi drivers, migrants from a similar background, who found the new Indian arrivals undercutting them. It was an economic battle between two migrant groups and certainly not a racist attack on Indians. The report also indicated how Indian media magnified it as official policy of racial discrimination.

However, the report stresses on the fact that the student crisis may have done India-Australia relations a good turn. “For Canberra, they have served to emphasise just how important the role and experience of the Indian diaspora can be for a host country in terms of forging ties with Indian government and society.Indian perceptions of other countries are often shaped by the conditions and achievements of the Indian community there.”

The report also ends with many valuable recommendations to improve Indo-Australia relations in higher education such as:

• Undertake as an act of goodwill to extend the visas of Indian students who were in Australia on February 8, 2010, and whose pathways towards permanent residency in Australia were affected by changes to immigration regulations in that year. Such extensions or issuance of alternative categories of visa should be granted for at least 12 months from December 31, 2012.

• Extend the post-study work entitlement currently enjoyed by international students at universities to all TAFE institutes and reputable private colleges offering vocational training.

• Expand the study of contemporary India at Australian universities by providing initial funding for twenty B-level university teaching/research positions for the next five years, after which the universities fund the positions.