Australia scraps vocational education for Indians, focuses on varsity programmes
The Australian government has come out with a series of reforms since the 2009 serial attacks on Indian students, and has now scrapped private vocational education for Indians. The matter was confirmed by Australian High Commissioner to India, Peter Varghese in a conversation with Business Line correspondents.
However, Australia is planning to tie up with Indian institutions for offering vocational courses here through dual degrees and twinning programmes. While the main focus will be on encouraging students to go to Australia to pursue university programmes in general and for postgraduate programmes in particular, reported the Hindu.
In an interaction with students and faculty members of University of Kerala, Varghese said that vocational courses in Australia were considered to be a doorway for employment and permanent residency in the country. However, the Australian government has now decided to "separate the pathways of education and employment". (Read more)
"When it comes to vocational education, our emphasis is going to be delivering that in India, and not in Australia," Varghese told the Business Line.
According to Varghese, in the wake of the new reform, the number of Indian students will take time to reach 100,000 that Australia witnessed during the peak in 2009, as majority of them were students of private vocational education. However, he is hopeful that the number of Indian students would reach half that number in the coming years. As the focus will now be on rebuilding the platform of university education, the number will reflect quality students who would not misuse their student visas for employment in Australia. (Read more)
This dual-track strategy might prove beneficial for India as better qualified people would be available for nation-building. According to Varghese, the reform will put the two countries into a bilateral educational relationship on a healthier ground.
Nevertheless, it is important for the concerned authorities to ensure that the two countries do not have an ‘outdated understanding of each other.' In this direction, the Australian government plans to organize ‘Aus-Fest' in October in 15 locations in India to highlight the nation's achievements on the cultural, literary, economic and technological fronts. (Read complete story)