Applications from Indians overseas to study in Australia are being rejected at a rate more than 50 per cent higher than those from China, sparking accusations the government is sending mixed messages to Australia’s second-largest international student cohort after government ministers travelled to the subcontinent to promote tertiary education.
Home Affairs data shows just over 10 per cent of Indian nationals’ offshore applications to study at international colleges were accepted so far this financial year as authorities crack down on visa fraud in the sector. Just 58.9 per cent of Indian student visas for universities were approved.
The government wants to improve educational ties with India, but critics say a low number of visa approvals sends a mixed message.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Offshore applications from Nepalese students have also been targeted, with just 47 per cent approved for universities, and 9.1 per cent for the vocational education and training (VET) sector since July.
In comparison, offshore applications from Chinese students – Australia’s largest international student cohort – were approved 97.7 per cent of the time for universities this financial year, and 42.1 per cent of the time for the VET sector during the same period.
The crackdown is aimed at stamping out the proliferation of “ghost colleges”, exposed in an investigation by this masthead earlier this year, in which campuses sit largely empty even when thousands of students are enrolled.
Australia’s top universities have backed the Albanese government’s push to tighten the parameters of the international education intake to ensure only genuine students come to study, instead of those looking for a backdoor into work.
But Troy Williams, chief executive of the International Tertiary Education Council of Australia, which represents private, international colleges, said the government risked being seen as “chaotic, lacking coordination, and lacking higher-level, strategic direction.”
“If we use visa approval [data], it would seem to suggest the Australian government does not want to welcome international skills-training students from India,” Williams said.
“In our discussions with Indian counterparts, they’ve noticed the dichotomy in the government’s policy statements in contrast with their visa processing.”
International student advocate Bijay Sapkota said while he was opposed to dodgy institutions, students were more than statistics.
“Australia must strike a balance between security and fairness to ensure deserving students find a welcome home here,” he said.
Sudarshan Sritharan, secretary of the Federation of Indian Associations of Victoria, said the government “probably needed to be careful about what you’re sending out as a message” from the high rates of rejection.
A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said the government ran a “non-discriminatory” visa program but that a key requirement for successful applicants was being a genuine student.
There had been a notable increase in student visa fraud post-pandemic, the spokesperson said.
“The presentation of fraudulent documentation and information has led to higher visa refusal rates and longer processing times for some cohorts (including VET sector applications from Indian nationals),” the spokesperson said.
Last November, Education Minister Jason Clare and Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor visited India to strengthen the relationship between the countries as Australian universities set up overseas campuses.
The ministers discussed shared training regimes for skills in clean energy, cybersecurity and aged care, areas where Australia has acute skill shortages.
“All of this strengthens the ties between our two great countries. Australia and India are good friends, and this is a friendship that goes back a long time,” Clare said at a speech in India.
At the time, Phil Honeywood, the head of the International Education Association of Australia, praised the government for increasing offshore opportunities for international tertiary students, adding the “appetite for every increasing number of students has been affected by the rental crisis”, and this was one way to alleviate pressure on the system.
Reducing the intake of international students is central to the government’s plan to halve net overseas migration by June 2025, with stricter English language requirements, fewer work rights, and bans on colleges from paying education agents to poach students from rival institutions announced this year.
Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight (Go8), which comprises Australia’s most research-intensive universities, including the University of Sydney and University of Melbourne, said the country needed a visa system that recognised genuine applicants and focused on quality students, adding many students had been duped by unscrupulous agents.
“India has a huge demographic dividend – but the Go8 won’t trade quality for quantity when it comes to education and research partnerships, nor would anyone expect us to, and government must ensure this,” she said.
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