Indians head to Australian universities in droves

Sufia Tippu
Sunday, 01 October 2006 13:43

IT Industry - Market

 
India is the second largest source country for international students in Australia with China topping the list with 81,184 students. However, in the last academic year, India has registered a higher increase in the number of students than China.

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Interestingly, Indian students have shown a remarkable preference to study in the two largest states of New South Wales and Victoria.

Institutes in New South Wales attracted 10,019 students in '05 over the 7,511 in '04, while Victoria attracted 12,936 students in '05, over 9,661 students in '04.

The Australian Capital Territory, which is home to the Australian National University, University of Canberra and the Canberra Institute of Technology, only attracted 340 Indian students in '05.

Another interesting trend is the number of Indian students enrolling in the English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (Elicos) for learning English as a second language.

In 2004, 1,079 students enrolled in these courses; the number went up to 1,307 in 2005, up 21.1%.

What’s interesting here is this: Earlier, Indian students pursuing education abroad were always well versed in English, as they have studied it as part of their school curriculum. However, now Australia is having a greater pull for those students who may not have had English as a medium of instruction but wish to learn English the Australian way.