Study in Australia: Pros and cons

What's with all the hype about Australia emerging as the leading education destination for Indian students?

The Australian High Commission stated a rise of seven per cent in the number of Indian students in Australia -- 27,000 Indian students in Australia. However, does this really translate into Australia being the leader of foreign education today?

• Chat: Want to study in Australia?, 2 pm

There are many reasons why Australia has become a favourite study destination for Indian students considering study abroad: 

• Australia has a proven reputation as a provider of high quality education to international students generally and in India there is growing awareness of the quality and variety of Australian courses and qualifications. 
• Many students are attracted by the flexibilities afforded by the Australian Qualification Framework, which sets out 12 levels of qualifications across the three educational sectors -- school, university and vocational education and training. Qualifications are awarded only after the achievement of competency standards. Once achieved, students can progress through different levels of qualifications, regardless of the sector in which they were achieved, thus providing many different pathways between different levels. 
• Australia is a safe and welcoming destination, proud of its own enormous cultural diversity. 
• The interests of international students in Australia are protected by Australian government legislation -- the Education Services for Overseas Students Act. Only institutions which are registered by the Australian Government can recruit students from overseas. 
• The costs of studying in Australia compare favourably with traditional destinations for Indian students, such as the USA and Britain.

Source: Australian High Commision New Dehli web site

The table above tells you all the important things a student considers before choosing his or her final study destination. However, one important factor left out is the job prospects after graduation.

Job prospects

Australia has a relatively small economy and the main industry in Australia is tourism. Because of this not many Indian students manage to find employment in Australia. Most of them have to come back to India only to realise that their degrees are not recognised by employers here.

This is not to say that all Australian degrees are not recogniSed in India -- degrees from reputed institutes such as University of Melbourne, Australian Graduate School of Management and so on are recognised in many parts of the world.

Students who want to come back to family businesses prefer Australia as the degree length is shorter than North American schools and the costs are lower. However, students who wish to get jobs after they graduate, generally prefer American institutes.

Beware of agents

Remember agents claiming to represent Australian universities can be ruthless and can leave a gaping hole in your pocket. Make sure to visit the Association of Australian Education Representative in Indian web site  to check the appropriate guidelines for agents (for example, no Australian University agent can ever charge you more than Rs 10,000).

Australia versus other countries

According to Allan E Goodman, President and CEO of the Institute of International Education, in the Open Doors web site (which reports on international education), "America's colleges and universities have begun to see positive results from their proactive efforts to recruit international students and make them feel welcome on campus. With several thousand campuses able to host international students (ten times as many as any of the other leading host countries), the US has a huge untapped capacity to meet the growing worldwide demand for higher education. "

According to Open Doors, the US houses over 600,000 students out of which around 77,000 are Indian students. The leading education destination for international students still continues to be the United States followed by Australia, UK and then Canada. The UK houses around 17,000 Indian students (according to Education Gaurdian, UK) and Canada houses around 10,000 Indian students.

Don't base your decision on the quantity of Indian students in any country. Instead base your decision on your career goals, the university where you have got admission and what you want to do after you complete your education.

~ Join Karan for a chat on February 15, 2 pm.

-- The author is an education consultant and can be contacted on kgc@karangupta.com
www.report-ed.com.