Oz to loosen visa requirements to win back Indian students

From Natasha Chaku
Melbourne, Sep 22 (PTI) Witnessing a steep decline in
foreigners' enrolment in its universities, Australia on
Thursday announced that it will relax some visa requirements
to win back overseas students, including Indians.
The new changes, expected to be enforced from the second
semester of 2012 in the Australian universities, follow a
review of the student visa programme led by ex-New South Wales
government minister Michael Knight.
Under the new rules, the financial requirements for
student visas will be eased and applicants will be needing
about 36,000 dollars less in their bank account than they do
now. And new post-study work visas will allow students to
remain in Australia for two to four years after their course
ends, depending on their level of qualification.
Significantly, Canberra had earlier tightened visa regime
for Indian students, stating that a number of them come to
Australia to settle down by taking admissions in non-skilled
vocational courses like cookery and hair-cutting, implying
that this was one of the reasons for a series of attacks on
Indian youths here.
"We were taking hairdressers from overseas in front of
doctors and nurses, it didn't make any sense," Australian
immigration authorities had said last year while tightening
the visa rules.
More than 100 incidents of attacks against Indian
students have been reported over the past two years in
Australia, mainly in its Victoria province.
In New Delhi, Australian High Commissioner Peter Varghese
welcomed the announcement of changes to Australia's student
visas requirements.
Calling the changes significant, he said they would
enhance the competitiveness of Australia's international
education sector and result in easier and faster visas for
Indian students in a range of Australian university courses.
Indian student enrolment in Australia has declined by
almost half following turmoil in its international education
sector, legislative changes and global financial crisis.
In 2008-09, 65,503 Indian passport holders were granted
Australian student visas across all education sectors. But in
2009-10, the number fell to just 29,721. Overall, 50,540 fewer
international students were granted visas to study in
Australia in 2009-10 compared with 2008-09.
The Australian authorities also said that students
applying for various course will also have to prove they are
genuine students and genuine about returning home.
"It's not enough to be genuine about your studies and
have no intention of going home, nor is it enough to be
genuine about going home but not serious about your studies,"
Knight was quoted as saying in the report.
The Knight report made 41 recommendations, which have
been accepted by the government.
Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans said the changes
would help Australian universities to be more competitive in
the international market. "They have articulated for a long
time that the visa processes are a barrier to attracting
students in an increasingly competitive environment," he said.
Evans said the sector's previous growth rate was
unsustainable and could not continue.
"I think we had some of those problems with student
welfare because the system had just grown too quickly," he
said. "This will help put this sector on a very good footing
to continue to grow."