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Visa curbs anger Aussie varsities

Paritosh Parasher in Sydney

The University of Wollongong in New South Wales has openly opposed new restrictions on visas to Indian students, saying they are affecting enrolments in Australian institutes.

The Australian immigration authorities have from July 1 imposed restrictions on the issuance of visas to students from some developing countries like India and China, saying a large number of applicants are fraudulent.

"The number of Indian students commencing this session at the university has been affected by a substantial bottleneck in the processing of visas through the Australian high commission in Delhi," said Peter Day, international marketing manager at the University of Wollongong.

The University of Queensland is also opposed to the new measures.

Day disagreed with the government's assertion that students from countries like India were indulging in visa frauds. "Only part of [the problem] is attributable to the level of forged documents," he said.

Day also expressed apprehension that "inefficiencies and inconsistencies" in processing visas could endanger the flow of "high-quality international students" coming to the university south of Sydney.

The University of Wollongong enrolled 210 Indian students in the current academic session. One-fifth of this regional university's international student intake is from India.

Besides the removal of restrictions on Indian student visa-seekers, Day called on the Australian authorities to provide easy access to the English language test in India. The test of proficiency in English is a new hurdle that Indian applicants have to clear.

"It [the test] is available in four centres in a country of more than 1,000 million people. That is expected to seriously disrupt enrolments from India in 2002," he said.

Students from the Indian subcontinent have come under scrutiny as instances of them overstaying their visas are reportedly more than of students from other countries.

Under the new immigration rules, Indian students are required to give proof of having the entire tuition fees when they apply. It is also mandatory for them to prove that they can bear their living expenses and air fare to Australia as liquid assets.

The visa restrictions might also have an adverse impact on Australia's foreign earnings. Education is Australia's fourth largest export earner, fetching around Aus $4 billion every year.

While a number of educational institutes are voicing their opposition to the new immigration rules, some critics of the education programme have asked for more restrictions to check the arrival of 'fraudulent' students.

One such vocal critic is Labour Party Senator Kim Carr from Victoria, who has been at the forefront of campaigns to reduce Australian universities' dependence on international students.

Carr, the Labour Party's manager of business in the Senate, had voiced his opinion when a number of Indian students were caught working illegally as security guards in Melbourne and Sydney last year.

Carr now says rising cancellations of student visas and a jump in fraudulent study applications from India highlight the dangers of the Australian education programme. He has put the figure of cancelled visas at 4,000, stating that it was just 2,200 two years ago, with Indians being among the worst offenders.

According to Carr, the share of fraudulent applicants had touched a staggering 20 per cent at the Australian mission in India. There were 8,102 student visa applications lodged in the New Delhi mission, with a refusal rate of 54 per cent, he said.

Indo-Asian News Service

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