IDP Education Australia to open 33 more offices

Bangalore, Mar 12: IDP Education Australia Limited, the largest recruiter of international students for Australian educational institutions, proposes to open 35 offices in India to help students wishing to study in Australia, IDP Director(India) Henry A S Ledlie said today.

He told newsmen here that eight offices would be opened this month in the country besides the one in Nepal by IDP Chief Executive Tony Pollock.

He said Australia had become second destination, after United States, for Indian students for the last three years and the number of students has increased steeply to 33,000 from a meagre 275 students 12 years back. The growth was 30 to 35 per cent during the last three years as the cost was 40 to 60 per cent cheaper when compared to the US and the UK.

This year Australia was likely to issue 25,000 visas and the number of students studying in Australia was targeted at 80,000 by 2025. In Post Graduate courses India ranked first, while students from China was highest in Under Graduate courses. Among other courses that attracted Indian students included Engineering, Biotechnology, Aviation, he added.

Mr Henry said Australian Government was utilising the profit earned for investment in improving infrastructure for Education to offer better facility for students.

He said that to attract the finest Indian minds, Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced a Australian Dollar 25 million aid to India over the next five years for bilateral collaboration through the Strategic Research Fund and Exchange Scholarships.

Indians now make up the third largest migrant group in Australia, after the British and the New Zealanders. There are more than two lakh foreign students studying in Australia.

UNI