Planning to Study in Australia- Choose the university carefully
By Sabina Thakur | Thu, 08/27/2009 - 18:23
Sending students abroad has become a lucrative business both for the agents as well as for universities. Many universities in Australia and Canada operate from campuses barely larger than size of a triple story showroom of average size in any Indian metro.
After reaching there, students are neither able to get refund of fees nor able to study. Even if they complete education, they are not able to find jobs either in that country or in India as the university is not of repute.
To curb this menace, Australia has announced tougher screening norms for students study visa applications. Australia plans to upgrade the interview program to assess the student’s preparedness for the course as well as to assess his education qualification and aptitude for the course applied for.
The move comes in the wake of the Australian government tightening the screws on both fraudulent educational institutions and on students who misrepresent their financial capacity to study Down Under. Australia's minister for education Julia Gillard also warned that education providers of risk of being shut down if they don't comply with rules relating to international students. Continuing further he said that if found wanting, the registration of the education providers may be cancelled - but not at the cost of the students.
Australia’s minister for immigration and citizenship announced that the message is clear. Genuine international students shall continue to be welcome in Australia, but we will not tolerate fraud in the student visa program.
Student visas from countries like Sri Lanka, Brazil, Vietnam, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan and Zimbabwe will also come under scrutiny. Student visas from and are already under watch. Already more than 20000 applications have been rejected in 2009 against 28000 rejected in whole of year 2008.
This measure is also expected to restore the credibility of its A$ 15.5-billion (Rs 62,000 crore) overseas education sector, which has been hit by the adverse coverage of racist attacks on Indian students as well as stories of seedy agents and teaching shops that dupe students.
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