Melbourne: Australian Foreign Minister
Stephen Smith on Wednesday said the closure of some dubious private
colleges in the country would lead to decline in number of
Indian students coming here for further studies.
His comments follow the release of an independent report
into the USD 16-billion overseas education sector for
international students by former Liberal MP Bruce Baird, which
found the industry has been distorted by colleges that were
set up to take advantage of students seeking permanent
residency.
Smith said he expected the collapse of some colleges to
translate into a drop in enrolments.
"I think we will see a drop in the number of Indian
students coming to Australia, I think for three reasons - the
safety issues, the general adverse consequences of the global
financial crisis and integrity or quality issues," he said.
However, Smith said he hoped improvements to the nation's
overseas education system will minimise the drop in the number
of Indian students coming to the country.
"I think one of those adjustments will be a drop in the
numbers, but I don't think that will be a permanent thing," he
said, adding "I expect the rigour which is instilled will be
in the long term a much better quality outcome."
Baird yesterday handed down his report, which called
for changes to weed out shonky operators and provide greater
protection for students.
"We have permanent residency factories," he said. "If you
ask any of the good providers, they'll quickly name those who
they believe are dodgy operators and are rotting the system."
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 19:21