Racist attacks cease, but students scared

Oct 18, 2010 - Ipsitaa Panigrahi(The Asian Age)

Indian students subjected to racist attacks in Australia resulted in a major decline of students going to the universities there. The Melbourne University vice-chancellor recently announced that Australia would see an 80 to 90 per cent drop in the number of Indian universities applying in 2011. And with a recent study revealing that Indian students now prefer to stay in India for their higher education, things don’t look too bright for Australia.
Ruchira Chakraborty, software professional who is looking at studying abroad next year isn’t too keen about the education in Australia. “The truth about Indians is that our population is too large for us to get top-quality education here in India and that is why we look abroad. But at what cost? If Australia continues to have such hostile policies, it would soon become an unlikely option for Indians looking to pursue education there,” she says.
Education counsellor Shailaja Mulay attributes the decline to three reasons primarily. “Indian students are realising that education in India is at par with most international universities. Moreover, the quality of education offered there isn’t really up to the mark. Also, with security issues no one wants to risk it so I can surely say that the numbers have gone down drastically,” reasons Mulay.

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