After US, Indians are the most to study in Australian Universities

The leap in the numbers of Indian students choosing Australia for higher studies would do a kangaroo proud. While the United States remains the most preferred campus destination, Australia is next in line, having overtaken the traditional universities of old Europe.

Until ten years ago, said education consultant Sam Shetty, students would either want to go to the US or the UK.

Down Under was nowhere on their radar. The attitude then was that an Indian degree was preferable to going all the way to Australia for one. “Parents who knew only of Harvard and Oxford would ask, what’s in Australia,” said Shetty. That attitude has undergone a sea change.

Recent figures released by the Australian government show that the southern continent is now much sought after by students. While 27,661 students applied for an Australian student visa in 2005-’06, a much lower number, 16,227 applied to the British High Commission.

The trend is likely to continue with Australian universities predicting a 40% increase in Indian student enrolment for 2006-’07, said Dirk Mulder, chairman of the Australian government’s South Asia Focus Group for Western Australia. Forty per cent is not as irrationally optimistic as it sounds given the 33.5% jump in the last academic year.

In Australia, the most popular universities are the University of Western Australia, the Curtain University of Technology, University of Queensland, University of Adelaide, and Monash University, said Jamal Qureshi, regional marketing manager, Perth Education City, India office.