Melbourne: Enrolment of Indian students in
Australia is expected to slide by a whopping 21 per cent over
safety worries in the aftermath of violent attacks on them and
the country could lose around 70 million USD in revenue.
In its latest projection, Tourism Australia has said the
recent spate of attacks on students will result in 4,000 fewer
Indians coming to Australia to study next year.
"The downturn is expected in response to concerns that
the Indian community have had about safety," Head of Tourism
Australia`s forecasting committee Bernard Salt said.
As the slide in inflow of Indian students comes about,
Australia could lose over USD 70 million in revenue, the study
said.
"What we are saying is that based on consideration of
visa applications, there is 20 per cent hit in the number of
Indian students coming in 2010," Salt said, adding that it was
hard to say whether this drop could be a "knee-jerk, one-year
reaction".
Gautam Gupta, President of the Federation of Indian
Students in Australia, however, said the slump would not be as
severe as feared earlier after a spate of attacks on students
of Indian origin upto June this year.
"Our fears were that the slide could touch as high as 50
per cent. But it is going to be only 21 per cent," he said.
Australia`s education industry has in recent years
witnessed an unprecedented boom with the value touching as
high as USD 15.4 billion a year and is listed as the country`s
third biggest export earner.
Students from India make-up for 19 per cent of those
enrolling in Australian universities. Last year as many as
117,000 enrolled.
PTI
