Safety and Quality of Education Issues deter Overseas Students in Australia

Reasons for downfall in enrollments: The major reason is the security of International students, which was not taken seriously in the past which has beget in some well known hapless consequences. Apart from the quality and security aspect it was because of strict visa rules the number of enrollments were declined.

Later it was realized that visa problem was not that prominent apart from it factors like discriminatory visa arrangements, immigration regimes which made no differentiation between students and workers, high cost of studying were more prominent. Due to changes in visa granting procedure, getting a Australian Visa is no more a cake walk and similarly obtaining permanent residency after completing the education has become an uphill task. Now students have to show balance for three years living cost, which is very high compared to other countries.

Student reactions: A survey was done to understand the trend of the reason and other aspects of the downfall. It was seen that generally students are unaware of the cumbersome visa procedure of Australia as only 11 percent of students said that it was difficult to get an Australian visa compared to 23 percentage who voted for Britain and 49 per cent who voted for US. More than the visa procedure security is a concern as only 32 per cent student find Australia safe in which Indians constitutes only 5 percent as compared to 38 per cent voting for Britain and 46 per cent voting for US and Canada. Security is a big concern for Indian students.

The brighter side: The educational institutional is concerned regarding the downfall in enrollment of international students and they are continuously pressing the government to make the visa process easier.

A Council for international Students has even proposed for the hike in work hours so that they can earn more for their living. It has also raised the point of visa processing fee and living cost, that they should also be reduced so that the education and living cost is easily bared by the students. Further to this the government is being pressed to increase the time duration of the visa, the council has demanded to increase the time from course duration to one and a half times the course duration.

This is a good new and a positive step that will definitely ensue landing more students to Australia.