Thousands of newly arrived Indian students are using loopholes in the visa system to abandon their courses at established universities to enrol at cheaper private colleges, stoking fears of widespread rorting of the temporary migration scheme.

Universities are reporting sharp increases in the number of Indian students who either arrive in Australia but never step foot in their institution or abandon their course shortly after. One university says around 500 of its expected 1200 new enrolments from India for semester two last year either didn’t front up or jumped ship in the first six months.