Australia to safeguard international students

Canberra (Australia), Sep. 14 (ANI): Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Julia Gillard said every effort would be made by her government to ensure the safety of international students in the country.

She was speaking on the opening day of a two-day round table meeting in Canberra on Monday to discuss major issues of concern for international students, Sinhua reports.

The overseas student industry, worth 15.5 billion Australian dollars, has been under scrutiny following an outcry earlier this year over violence against Indian students.

"When you're talking about these grossly objectionable, violent incidents, you're talking about a number of less than 10 and we are talking about around 100,000 Indian students in the country," Gillard later told reporters.

"But I can understand why, having seen even one incident -- mums and dads having sent their sons and daughters far from home to study would be concerned," she added.

Gillard told the 31 assembled students, representing every continent on the globe, their voice was deeply important.

She said their views will be fed into Council of Australian Governments (COAG) deliberations on how to boost the international student experience and a parliamentary review that is currently underway. (ANI)