Leap in student visa requests shows India can forgive
Ben Doherty New Delhi
July 1, 2011
AFTER a troubled couple of years, the number of Indians wanting to study in Australia is beginning to increase.
After several assaults on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney in 2009 and 2010, the number coming to Australia plummeted, the issue fanned by an aggressive Indian media and compounded by a rising dollar, which made Australia comparatively less affordable.
But the number of applications for student visas made to the Australian high commission in Delhi has jumped 21 per cent in the first six months of 2011, to more than 3700 applications.
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''The number of student visa applications is rebounding, that category is up significantly,'' the assistant secretary of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Peter Speldewinde, told the Herald from New Delhi.
The issue of the attacks on students, which dominated relations with India in 2009 and 2010 and scarred them beyond, is a fading concern for Indian parents. ''People are generally positive about Australia,'' Mr Speldewinde said. ''The student issue has come up from time to time but no one's really pushed it very hard.''
The rise in applications has yet to flow through to educational institutions. The latest figures show a 30 per cent drop in the number of Indian students enrolled to the end of March, compared with a year earlier.
The government has been on a migration drive in India, advertising changes to the skilled migration program which start today. The reforms are expected to boost the number of Indians coming to Australia to live. India remains the third-largest provider of permanent skilled migrants to Australia, behind only China and Britain, with more than 15,000 last financial year.
The changes, ahead of a more radical restructure of the program in 12 months, will see international qualifications and work experience recognised, while also raising age limits for applicants with required skills and experience.
Skilled migrants would be drawn from throughout the world without preference for a particular country or region, Mr Speldewinde said. ''We don't care where we find the people. We are just looking for the best people for Australia.''
Previous skilled migration programs targeted skills shortages in Australia, but the time lag in bringing migrants to the country meant the jobs had been filled by the time those migrants arrived.
''Trying to plug holes didn't work. It was counter-cyclical. These places are not to address current skills shortages. Instead, they are looking at the medium-to long-term settlement needs,'' Mr Speldewinde said.
Professionals in the fields of engineering, architecture and medicine are expected to be in strong demand.
Skilled migration to Australia will rise 12,000 in 2011-12 to 125,580, up from 113,850 in 2010-11. But total migration was down significantly in calendar year 2010, with a net inflow of 171,000 people against a high of 316,000 in 2008.
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http://www.smh.com.au/national/educ...can-forgive-20110630-1gt4q.html#ixzz1Qp2xaGW5
