India to beat China in students traffic to Australia

With India close to the heels of China in the inflow of its students to Australia, speculations are being laid that it will overtake in a year and half's time.

Talking to Business Standard, Henry A S Ledlie, director-India, IDP Education Australia, who was in the city to attain interview programme, said in 2005, the number of Indian students flying to Australia was about 25-27,000, a constant rise of 35 per cent every year from 2002.

"About 30-32,000 students were from China in 2005 however, the inflow from India will overtake China in one and half year's time," Ledlie said.

The recent announcement by the Australian prime minister on March 6 to shell out $ A 25 million on research and scholarship, specific to India, will draw more students to Australia, he said. Amhanda Vanstone, minister of immigration will be in India on March 13 to talk with the ministers.

"There will be further announcements and I believe new counsellor offices will be set up, perhaps starting with Chennai," Ledlie said.

The announcement made by the British prime minister to introduce point system for Indian students, is also likely to affect the inflow, Ledlie said.

About Australian universities entering into a tie-up with Indian counterparts, he said, "The existing policies of the government are acting as a major barriers. I am not saying that they should be easier but something is stopping the international institutes from coming to India."

As per a survey conducted by IDP, on behalf of the Australian government, 8,00,000 students from India are expected to go abroad by 2025.

"This is a huge figure and I am afraid that Australia may be unable to hold such a huge inflow hence, we need to have better infrastructure and facilities with more foreign tie-ups in India itself," Ledlie said.

However, Dirk Mulder, marketing manager of Edith Cowan University said, "We are looking forward to strategic alliance to facilitate Australian programmes here."

As per their records, of 2,300 international students in their university, 720 were from China and 500 from India for 2005. IDP and Australian government were the first to initiate marketing fairs in India.

"Atleast 20 per cent (5,500) of our Indian students are from Gujarat of which, about 60 per cent migrate and get permanent resident (PR) status.

Radhika Khachar, manager of IDP Education Australia said accountacy and finance related fields remain top on the minds of Gujarati students in a bid to garner 60 points.

"Gujarati accountants are the next big wave in Australia," she said. About 28 Australian universities conducted interviews as part of the ongoing marketing fairs in India.