'Oz edu sector working to increase enrolment from India'

Updated on: Thursday, December 16, 2010

Australian education sector is earnestly working on security issues, to increase enrolment of Indian students, which has seen a sharp decline following a spate of attacks on them, an official said.

"We are aware of the sadness and distress that has happened (following attacks on Indian students) and we are looking forward to overcoming that. We are looking forward to re-engage India with good spirit and cooperation. The Universities, Colleges and Schools in Australia are all working together to improve the situation again," Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET) National Chair Kay Ganley told.

"We look forward to more Indian students coming in the future. We know that it will take time for people to feel confident again...but that will happen because we had had a long history of engagement together and I think that will overcome the recent experiences," said Ganley, who participated in a conference at the National Academy of Construction here.

The Australian government and regulators had done a lot of work to attract people who want to come to the country for education and training, she said.

"We are all working together to make sure that we have the right reasons for engaging. We have overcome a lot of them (problems) because of the measures that have been taken," she asserted.

Ganley said the situation after last year's attacks on Indian students was improving now, though, admissions (of Indian students) to all educational institutions including the state-run as well as private institutions was affected.

"Yes, it (enrolments) has come down. There's been an impact on the whole education industry. Figures vary from Universities and Colleges in different states. But it (decline) has been across the whole country," she said.

"It (attacks) has had an impact and we are all suffering in Australia because of that as well. We really want to move forward in good spirit now and overcome the difficulties that we had in the past," she said adding, "We are already disappointed, because it's not the way we feel and think about India."

Ganley expressed hope that the history of cooperation and engagement particularly in education and training with India, would help in improving the situation.

"We have a good relationship with India for long time and that's what we want for the future. We are positively looking forward (on increasing enrolment) in 2011 and 2012 and beyond," she said.

A report of ABC earlier said there had been a drop of between 40 and 50 per cent in applications from South Asian countries, particularly India, due to incidents of attacks on Indian students besides other reasons.

According to Australian reports, education sector is Australia's fourth-largest export earner, contributing over USD 17 billion last year.

'Oz edu sector working to increase enrolment from India'

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