NEW DELHI: After Canada, five Australian universities have banned or placed restrictions on students from some Indian states due to an exponential rise in applications from South Asia seeking to work and not study, according to a media report.
Australia is due to enrol the highest number of Indian students ever, surpassing the previous high of 75,000 in 2019. An investigation by Australia’s The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers showed emails from within Victoria University, Edith Cowan University, the University of Wollongong, Torrens University and agents working for Southern Cross University that indicate that Indian students are being closely scrutinised.
These universities are making it tough to enrol students from some Indian states as they suspect their prime purpose is to take up jobs rather than study. While Edith Cowan University is not accepting applications from Punjab and Haryana, Victoria University has placed restrictions on student applications from Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
University of Wollongong is putting students from the Indian subcontinent and some other countries through a “genuine temporary entrant” test. Torrens University was giving extra attention to applications from Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab.