Thursday, May 6, 2010

Australian education industry adversely affected

Australian education industry adversely affected


Australia’s USD 15 billion education industry is set to have a negative impact as experts predict a drop in admission of foreign students from the major markets like India and China, following a spate of ‘racial’ attacks on Indians, says a report published in a leading business daily.
Quoting a study from The Australian’, the country’s second-biggest export sector is losing its share to the US and UK due to soaring costs and uncertain government policies, a situation that could trigger further closures by local tertiary institutions.
Sources reveal that there has been a drop of between 20 per cent and 30 per cent in new student visa applications in major Australian universities.
Thomas Wang, manager of Australian education at education agent China Star in Beijing, said, “There is certainly a degree of panic about Australia in the market here and I am not sure if Australian institutions understand that.”
Causes like attacks on Indians and crackdown on visa applications have lead to a collapse of education sales, forcing the closure of about 20 vocational colleges
Other factors contributing to Australia’s decline include better buying power from Britain, improved relations between China and Canada, and concern over the quality of Australian institutions at the lower end of the market. USA is taking advantage of this and portraying itself as the preferred destination for Chinese students, wooing them with a new speedy visa process and higher fees paid to agents.
The overall number of Chinese students in Australia has continued to rise and was up 6 per cent in February, but this fell short compared with the 21 per cent rise last year.

Source Link: http://studyabroad.learnhub.com/news/1060-oz-education-industry-adversely-affected-with-a-drop-in-foreign-students%27-intake

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