In 1988 only 55 student visas were issued by the Australian high commission in India. Since then the number of Indian students bound for Australia has spiraled to 27,000 annually (2008). Sensitively priced, quality education in scenic college campuses, a favourable exchange rate, English language instruction, strong emphasis on vocational and professional education, and aggressive marketing in the Indian subcontinent is the combination of factors which has moved Australia to the near-centre of radar screens of the growing number of Indian students in search of high quality tertiary education abroad. Currently there are 95,000 Indian students enroled in higher education institutions in Oz.
Australia’s higher education system comprises 37 public and two private universities, which offer a wide range of undergraduate and postgrad programmes; a government funded network of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) colleges; and private vocational education institutes. Universities, which offer high-quality teaching and research facilities, mandate stringent admission criteria for foreign students. More accessible are TAFE institutions, which tend to be smaller and more modest schools, but offer highly specialised and practical vocational and professional education. Private institutes, known as Registered Training Organisations (RTOs), offer short-term certificate and diploma programmes. In the past decade, RTOs have mushroomed across the country and are mainly responsible for the explosive growth of the Australian education export industry, which generates AUS$15.5 billion (Rs.59,600 crore) annually.
According to official estimates, only 30 percent of the 95,000 Indian students in Oz are enroled in degree dispensing universities, with the rest studying in RTOs. Many RTOs have come under the scanner for luring unsuspecting small-town Indian students through greedy agents who promise “great Western education” and the prospect of permanent residency. Moreover, following the lead of RTOs, publicly funded institutes have started employing agents to attract full-fee paying foreign students. For instance, a TAFE institute audited by the Australian government has appointed 391 agents worldwide. In a recent speech to Parliament, Australia’s education minister Julia Gillard said that the government intends to enforce tighter controls over education institutions and their practice of recruiting agents abroad.
With RTOs offering suspect quality education through the blandishments of unscrupulous agents, and the spate of attacks on Indian students, Australia’s hard-built reputation as a safe and affordable education destination for Indian students has taken a hard knock. Little wonder that even if belatedly, the federal and state governments and university managements have gone into over-drive to prevent and abate the rising incidence of hate crimes against foreign — particularly Indian — students in the sixth continent.