As per a sample survey, Indians still prefer Australia as a first option for studying abroad. US is still a second option despite the attacks on Indian students in 2009 and 2010 in Australia. On Wednesday, April 18, the survey conducted by the Australia India Institute and Lowy Institute for International Policy was released, which was conducted on 1233 Indians staying in Australia. About 75% of the respondents claimed that Australia is a good place for education. Even a few years ago, Australia was among the most preferred countries for the Indians for higher studies and vocational...

A research team from Australia’s Flinders University’s School of Environment is helping Assam to measure the welfare of its people. The well-being/welfare index for Assam will be assessed by Flinders University and IIT-Guwahati jointly. To prepare the Assam Human Development Report 2014, the index will be combined with the Human Development Index (HDI) of United Nations Development Program, for the first time. About 800 interviewers will reach out to more than 40,000 households of 27 districts of the state to carry out this massive exercise. Training has been given to 200...

ICCR and University of Melbourne signed an agreement to boost education engagement between Australia and India. On behalf of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Indian High Commissioner signed the memorandum of understanding, which will formalize one among five visiting chairs of ICCR to be set up in Australia.  The new visiting chair will be placed at the Australia India Institute, based in University of Melbourne. The visiting professors from India will teach their subjects of expertise, for one semester or more as per the agreement.   The airfares, salaries and...

India’s on and off affection with Australian tertiary education has once again taken a new turn. As per the Australian Education International figures last year, the number of Indian students joining Australian varsities has fallen by one-quarter. Moreover, as per the Immigration Department’s report, student visa applications have also fallen. In mid-2012, the visa lodgments from India dropped by 43% in comparison to second half of 2011. However, the applications received within India itself fell by 15%. In the recent past, most of the visas issued were issued to onshore...

Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) is expected to visit the Australian Universities next week for further exploring opportunities in vocational education and academic research fields. The CII led delegation is expected to connect with senior officials of Sydney and Melbourne state governments and conduct a study on the successful Australian institute-industry model. The delegation consisting of 15 members will visit Institutions of Excellence in Australia from February 18 – 23.  Universities such as Latrobe University, Swinburne University, University of Western...

New South Wales, one of the most popular study abroad destinations in Australia, is hoping to establish a body that will advocate international education. The idea for this initiative was created after publishing of recommendations in an important report on economic growth. The project, titled “StudyNSW” is scheduled to be launched in 2013. It will be responsible for the coordination, promotion, marketing and policies required to attract international students to New South Wales. As a result, all state education initiatives and sectors will now come under a common brand. The...

After three years of decline, the English language industry in Australia is finally recovering. As per the latest statistics from Australian Education International (AIE), ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students) admissions from January to October, 2012 had dropped by just 2 percent in the same period of months in 2011. Commencements increased by over 2 percent, an incredible growth in comparison to last year’s 7 percent decline in higher education and 12 percent in Vocational Education Training (VET). The English language sector is often considered the...

Indian students reportedly flock to two of the most popular destinations to study abroad: the US and Australia. Minister for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor recently revealed the figures to the Lok Sabha in the last session. Australia had around 36,326 students while the US topped the list with a whopping 1, 00,270 Indians in the country. Despite a slight slump in the numbers – a 3.5 percent decline from the 1, 03,895 students who applied in 2010-2011- the attraction of studying at a university in the US or Australia has not lost all of its glamour. While more and more...

VIT (Vellore Institute of Technology) will now be offering joint degree programs in collaboration with 3 Australian universities and have signed a MoU (memorandums of understanding) with each of them. The universities that signed an agreement with VIT are Deakin University, Australian National University and Queensland University of Technology. The collaboration will offer joint programs at both the masters and bachelor level. The program will enable post-graduate students to undertake their first year at VIT and the second year at the Australian National University. The joint...

The academic year of 2007-2008 saw a surge of Indian students applying to join Australian universities. In the last couple of years the number has drastically declined.Only half of the visa applications in the academic year 2011-12 came from Indian students who were willing to pursue their higher studies from Australian universities, as confirmed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). It also confirmed that the lack of applications from Indian students has contributed to the Australian education industry slump from 2007-08 onwards. Although the number of offshore higher...