Residency is What Indian Students Want, By James Reed
It has nothing to do about diversity, enriching Australian culture or advancing excellence in research. As Leith van Onselen notes, the extraordinary number of Indian students is all about residency. Excluding visitors, there were 300,000 Indians holding temporary visas in the September quarter of 2024, with 115,000 on student visas and 80,000 on graduate visas. And van Onselen goes on to detail where this leads: fake students enrolled in fake colleges: "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", The AFR reported in 2023.
"One university said about 500 of its expected 1200 new enrolments from India for semester two last year either did not front up or jumped ship in the first six months".
"Use of student visas as a back door to the jobs market is also rife, with some colleges merely shopfronts with little or no teaching and administration facilities".
The situation was so bad that International Education Association of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood labelled Australia's international education system a "Ponzi scheme" for enticing non-genuine students through migration pathways.
A new report published in India Today describes how prospective Indian students choose a study destination based on opportunities for work rights and permanent residency, not for the quality of education on offer:
Whether it's securing a job after graduation or bringing family along, the ease of a country's visa processes is now just as critical as academic excellence.
As Gaurav Batra, Founder and CEO of Infinite Group, puts it, "Indian students now give preference to nations with more straightforward job and permanent residency requirements"…
Factors such as post-study work opportunities, immigration pathways, and language requirements are now at the forefront of decision-making processes…
If there's one common factor shaping student decisions, it's the ability to work after graduation and transition to permanent residency…
Australia and Canada have been particularly proactive in extending these opportunities, making them attractive options…"
There have been three migration pacts which will generate an unending mass migration of Indian migrants:
The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA)
Australia-India Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement, and
The Mechanism for Mutual Recognition of Qualifications.
Hence there is the same issue with Indian migration that is being debated in America with the H-1B visa program, which is the replacement of locals by a people (who cannot be personally blamed), who will work cheaper, or put up with worse conditions:
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