Govt to make registration mandatory for education agents

Updated on: Wednesday, September 09, 2009

New Delhi: Indian Govt will soon make it mandatory for education agents to register with it to root out attacks on Indian students in Australia and ensure quality education.

Secretary in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs K Mohandas said Government will soon come out with a "foolproof" mechanism in coordination with Australian Government to ensure quality education for Indian students in that country.

'We will soon make it compulsory for education agents to register themselves with the Ministry. We are determined to create a foolproof mechanism so that Indian students get quality education there and do not land in trouble,' Mohandas said.

He said Government is also concerned about some students taking the route of some vocational courses in some ordinary institutes to get permanent residency in the country.

'There will be foolproof mechanism under which there will be some sort of monitoring. The Australian side is also working on this mechanism,' he said.

The Australian government has recently expressed its unhappiness over the quality of Indian students going to the country.

'Some students go to the country and take admission in some unknown vocational training institutes. Their main purpose is to settle down in the country. The Australian Government is not happy to welcome such students,' Mohandas said.

There has been a significant growth in private educational institutions in Australia in recent years. These institutes get students through their agents based in India, who do not provide correct information and the students discover after landing here that they have been cheated.

Mohandas said after making it mandatory for educational agents to register themselves with the Ministry, it will not be possible for these agents to dupe the students.

'The students going to the country should be genuine. They will have to go for genuine courses. It should be a transparent legal process,' he said. The flow of Indian students in Australia has increased by 164 per cent in 2007 over 2006 while it rose by 94 per cent in 2008 over the previous year. At present, nearly 97,000 Indian students are pursuing higher education in Australia.

The Australian government also reviewing the Eduction Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act to make the accreditation process stringent.

Govt to make registration mandatory for education agents

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