43% drop in Indian education visa applications

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Created on Wednesday, 20 February 2013 14:48

Written by Editorial staff

India's interest in the Australian education industry has faltered, with the number of new Indian students falling by a 25 per cent last year, Australian Education International figures show.

The latest quarterly report from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) found for the second half of 2012, there was a 43 per cent drop in visa applications.

Indian nationals applying for educational visas while in Australia have also fallen by 15 per cent.

The majority of applicants, who are of Indian background, are seeking to renew their student visa by applying for new courses.

But even these figures are in decline, as onshore applications are down 52 per cent, while the DIAC data point out that the granting of visas has dropped 55 per cent.

However, India is still counted as one of the top five countries that use Australia for education - the other four are China, South Korea, Brazil and Vietnam.

With figures showing that in pure numbers, India is still one of the top countries for education in Australia, the contradictory fact that the percentages are dropping indicates there is a high rejection rate of Indian applicants and the sub continental nation has a long processing time.

It comes as News Limited reports that while higher education enrolment from foreign students has risen, visa applications for Vocational Education and Training (VET) have fallen 22 per cent.

Experts told The Australian that this can be attributed to the fact that there are streamlined visa programs for higher education and post study work visas.

Such a system has improved the higher education industry, but damaged other training sectors.

Chief executive of private college body ACPET Claire Field told the newspaper that she is calling on the government to extend visa concessions to her educational sector.

She explained: "Good providers are going to the wall and Australia is losing substantial export income.

"The industry is on its knees as a result of government inaction."

While enrolments in English-language colleges have risen in recent times, there has been no growth for visa applications for the study of English.

This is due to the fact that that foreigners seeking education in English are doing so through higher education.

Minister for immigration and citizenship Brendan O'Connor did not comment on the issue, with his spokeswoman saying that the Assessment Level Framework Review - an analysis of the visa system - is currently under review.

"An announcement will be made in the near future," she said.