Reason behind Australian universities banning Indian students – Visa fraud

Two more Australian universities have banned the recruitment of students from some Indian states in response to fresh concerns over a rise in fake visa applications, a media report said. Federation University in Victoria and Western Sydney University in New South Wales last week wrote to education agents instructing them to no longer recruit students from Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh as well as the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Do, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The development came even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of “allowing Australian and Indian students to live and study in each other’s countries and bring those experiences home”. In addition, the two countries today signed a Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement to promote the exchange of students, graduates, researchers and businessmen. “The University has observed a significant increase in the proportion of visa applications processed by the Department of Home Affairs from certain Indian territories,” the letter to Federation University agents said. “We had hoped this would prove to be a short-term issue (but) it is now clear that a trend is emerging,” said the letter published in The Herald.

Last month, Australian universities including the University of Victoria, Edith Cowan University, Torrance University, and Southern Cross University banned students from some Indian states in response to an increase in bogus applications seeking to work and not study. Were. Country. The University of Western Sydney told agents in a message sent on 8 May that “a significant number of Indian students starting study in 2022 have not been enrolled, resulting in significantly higher attrition rates.” Areas presenting the highest accident risk. “Due to the urgency of the matter, the University has decided to stop recruitment from these regions in India with immediate effect,” the university’s message said. Recruitment from all other regions in India will continue as usual.

Western Sydney University said the ban would last for at least two months – May and June 2023. It further said that “additional measures will be taken to address the issue of enrollment of non-genuine students in the university from these areas.” changes to application screening, including stricter admission conditions and an increase in initial fees”. The report said that one in four applications from India are now being considered “fraudulent” or “non-genuine” by the Home Department. Australia alleged UK is set to enroll the highest number of Indian students ever, surpassing the previous high of 75,000 in 2019. The Home Affairs Department told a federal parliamentary inquiry last week that the rejection of applications from India The rate is 24.3 percent – ​​the highest since 2012.