The Sydney Morning Herald reported Federation University in Victoria and Western Sydney University in New South Wales both Australian universities have individually announced that they banned the intake of students from some states of India due to rise in fraudulent visa applications. Apparently one in four applications have been deemed as non genuine or fraudulent by the department of Home Affairs.
The students from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat and The union territory of Jammu Kashmir are not to be entertained by agents according to instructions.
The newspaper reported on the latest restrictions imposed on students from some Indian states on Monday May 22, the day Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Australia for a bilateral meeting. Modi and fellow Australian Anthony Albanese on Wednesday signed a new immigration agreement to “encourage exchanges of students, graduates, researchers and business people”.
The ban was announced on Monday in Sydney when a large community event was scheduled to take place for Indian diaspora before Prime Minister Modi’s three day visit to Australia.
The Federation University in a letter on May 19 said that they have observed a significant increase in the number of visa applications from some Indian regions being refused by the Department of Home Affairs. The letter said, “We hoped this would prove to be a short-term issue (but) it is now clear there is a trend emerging”.
The agents were informed through a letter from Western Sydney University that since they have noticed a high number of Indian students who started their courses in the year 2022 have dropped out they can no longer accept applicants from the states of Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab. In the letter they said “The regions within India that have been identified as presenting the highest attrition risk are Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat”. And the letter further said “Due to the urgency of this matter, the university has decided to pause recruitment from these regions in India, effective immediately”.
A new rule has been enforced regarding the the applications from Indian students by several renowned educational institutions in Australia was said by an earlier report from The Sydney Morning Herald. Emails from Edith Cowan University, Victoria University, Torrens University, The University of Wollongong, well as agents affiliated with Southern Cross University were obtained informing that there would be a significant tightening of scrutiny of applicants from these Indian states.
A lot of applicants seem to have an ulterior motive of employment and other job prospects in Australia rather than completing their intended studies, due to this concern the implemented action was taken.
A comprehensive prohibition of intake of students from the states of Punjab and Haryana was implemented by Edith Cowan University in Perth in the month of February and subsequently extending to eight Indian States including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan for further tightening its restrictive measures on application from students was tightened in March by Victoria University.
Category: World news, politics
Tags: education, world news, ban
