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Indian Student Enrollment In Oz Down 50%

(RTTNews) - Attacks on Indian students in Australia have taken a severe toll on the international education sector down under with new figures showing Indian student enrollment into universities there having slumped by almost half.

Indian passport holders, who were granted Australian student visas across all education sectors in 2009-10, fell to just 29,721 compared to 65,503 in 2008-09. Overall, 50,540 fewer international students were granted visas to study in Australia in 2009-10 compared with 2008-09 -- a decline of 16%.

According to 'The Age,' besides student security issues, the new figures were due to the turmoil in country's international education sector, legislative changes and global financial crisis.

Stephen Connelly, president of International Education Association of Australia, said the drop in global student visa numbers was not surprising but very worrying.

"There is so much goodwill we generate from having international students in our country, and we are absolutely shooting ourselves in the foot at the moment," he said.

Admitting that the government and opposition had sent negative messages to potential students during the recent federal election campaign, he said fresh efforts need to be initiated to restore Australia's dented reputation.

Connelly warned of further significant drop in student numbers if the problems were not tackled quickly. However, he refused to admit student security issues played a dominant role in the significant drop in global student visa numbers.

A series of allegedly racist attacks on Indian students that started in Victoria last year triggered angry reactions from New Delhi.

"Student security would be lower down on the list of reasons than the difficulties of getting a visa and the lack of differentiation among providers," Connelly said.

National Union of Students (NUS) president Carla Drakeford said the drop in numbers was very concerning for the university sector, not only because it creates a hole in university funding, but also because of the innate value international students bring to our community and higher education sector.