Will Indian students continue to be the largest group in global classrooms?

[Migration Help]

Over the last couple of years, Indian students made news on international campuses and emerged as the biggest group the world over, going past even the Chinese.

In America, India remained the leading country of origin of foreign students for the seventh consecutive time in financial year 2008, increasing by 13% to 94,563 students, according to the Open Doors report - published annually by the Institute of International Education (IIE) with support from the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. In all, over 2 lakh Indian students studied overseas last year.

And the attraction of global campuses is not just because of problems at home - such as not enough seats for professional courses or the reservation system. Overseas education is considered a ticket to global careers - and Indian professionals are among the most sought after in the overseas job market.

Besides, Indian families still value education over most other investments and parents are willing to avail themselves of loans to send their children for foreign degrees. Indian banks have been providing loans at attractive interest rates in the last few years for education overseas.

In fact, many overseas universities depend on revenue from foreign students and increasingly see India as one of the biggest markets. In 2007-08, for instance, Australian educational institutions earned around A$13.7 billion forex from international students, with as many as 97,000 from India enrolling in courses across the country.

However, is the dream run now over? ..................SEE: The Economic Times (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/the-sunday-et/special-report/Will-Indian-students-continue-to-be-the-largest-group-in-global-classrooms/articleshow/5111135.cms) for the full story.


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[Sheelagh Blanckenberg]

An interesting article and a sober reminder of the 'mess' Australia is in because of the relevant authorities not stamping out rorts quickly enough and for our immigration department not admitting that linking Permanent Residence outcomes to study in Australia was a 'honey-pot' for scammers and ne'er-do-wells.

This was obvious to so many. Not least of whom, Glenn Pereira, who for years has worked to try and bring these issues to the fore, not only to DIAC and the Education sector generally but also to the migration industry's professional body. He and others were scorned, derided and ultimately dismissed as conspiracy theorists.

No conspiracy. No theory. Just hard facts and reality if those in authority had just opened their eyes and used their 'noodles' instead of behaving like ostriches - at best - clueless as to what was unfolding in our backyard, or brown-noses - at worst - sucking up to powerful lobby/interest groups by pretending all was hunkydory and nothing was wrong.

The current knee-jerk reaction to sort the mess out is one of political expediency but heaven alone knows what the long-term damage to Australia will be in the sorting out.

As this article in the Indian Economic Times points out - " While many experts feel that a short-term fall in the number of students going for education overseas is not surprising (due to the GFC), they’re also bullish about the long haul and feel that the number of Indians seeking global degrees will continue to grow in the years to come - the question I ask is "Will they come to Australia after what has happened in the student market here?"
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