Studying in Australia: All that’s new
India has been upgraded in the student visa evaluation framework, increasing access and convenience for Indian students looking to pursue higher education in Australia
The Australian government has made a significant move in trying to make their country a more attractive destination for Indian students looking for higher education abroad. The shift from ‘High Risk Assessment’ to ‘Moderate Risk’ category for Indian students will increase the number of institutions that students can apply to in Australia, and substantially reduce the documentary requirements for obtaining a student visa. When Nepal was shifted from the high risk to the moderate risk category, it led to a significant increase in the number of student visas granted; Indian students are also likely to use this opportunity to benefit from Australia’s much vaunted higher education system.
CHANGE IN FRAMEWORK Australia ranks all countries into 4 categories for the purposes of issuing student visas, based on the presumption of risk. Each catges, egory comes with its own documentary requirements, and the higher risk categories have more onerous restrictions. For instance, the High Risk Assessment category – where India was previously placed, Indian students had fewer options to choose from Australian universities and colleges. Documentary evidence required have been reduced as per the checklist available on the embassy website but still if the visa officer requires he may ask under Genuine Temporary Entrant criteria. Furthermore, the metric by which visas were granted also accounted for the category and risk. Australian universities are also ranked according to their quality; the embassy would basically add the category number of the country of the applicant with the category rank of the university, and the lower scored visa applications are like to get positive visa response. With the change and upgrade in category, Indian students would get access to a much wider variety of Australian universities and colleges.
COME AND STUDY, MATE! This move by the Australian government is part of its ambitious target to enroll 720,000 international students by 2025. Australia is already the third-largest international educational destination in the world after the UK and USA. However, it lags behind Canada when it comes to attracting Indian students – a disparity that this move looks to correct. Australia is looking to aggressively push its institutions of technical and higher learning.
By opening these institutes up to Indian students, Australia is making it easier for Indian students to pick up a quality education from a wider variety of institutions and at greater convenience than before. Furthermore, the cost of higher education in Australia is substantially less than that of the UK and the USA. With Brexit and Trump causing concern amongst Indians about where to go to get a world-class degree, Australian’s shores seem to be the perfect answer. Sample the following news:
· 800 engineering colleges have recently been closed down for lack of admissions and poor quality
· A Mckinsey study estimated that only about 25% of Indian engineers are employable
· Studies indicated that less than 6% of the mechanical engineers end up doing anything with mechanical engineering
There is something deeply wrong with our society’s curious obsession with the engineering profession.
Each year, we see full-page ads by numerous coaching agencies, proclaiming most engineering toppers as their own. The coaching for engineering entrance exams sometimes begin as early as class VI, with relentless teaching of physics, chemistry and mathematics at the expense of social science and language subjects.
Given that many engineering colleges are unable to place their students and hence unable to garner enough admissions – why is our society still so obsessed with this career?
To get the answer, we have to go back a few decades, to the days of license-quota raj.
In the 1970s, when the economy stagnated, there were only a few jobs.
With India’s socialist focus on building state-owned factories, engineering was one profession which guaranteed a job.
Those days there were scant opportunities for languages or humanities graduates.
However, after economic liberalization, the situation changed radically.
Many new companies, particularly in the service industry, set shop. Private companies offered unprecedented opportunities for jobs and career growth.
Suddenly, one could become a journalist in one of the numerous media outfits, a banker in one of the new banks, a telecom professional in the sunrise industry of mobile telephony or a software professional in the booming IT industry.
None of these career options require you to study engineering. Contrary to popular belief, IT companies do not only hire from engineering campuses. Even when they do go to engineering colleges, they test for aptitude, logical reasoning skills and articulation.
But the minds of the parents, who double up as career counselors for our children, have remained stuck in the 1970s.
There is still the mistaken belief that engineering is the only profession that guarantees a job.
The statement is wrong on two counts: one, engineering does not guarantee a job – as the placement records of many engineering colleges will tell you. Two, there are many, many more job outside the engineering profession which are open to normal graduates and postgraduates.
Because of this obsession, many students are pushed towards careers they do not want to pursue. LEEDS: Uk-based Leeds Arts University has launched a BA (Hons) programme in fashion branding and communication which will commence from September 2018.
The programme aims to enable graduates to translate the nuances of the fashion medium into a contextualized branding narrative by exploring new and evolving theories and practices that underpin fashion branding.
Live projects, studio visits, competition briefs, industrial experience and supported professional research will help students gain hands-on skills.
Historical, cultural and contextual studies, alongside trips to art galleries, fashion exhibitions, retail spaces, creative agents and residential visits, will be used to help broaden holistic awareness, develop critical and reflective thinking and writing, and expand creative research skills in the undergraduates.
Graduates can look forward to a range of careers in areas such as fashion branding, brand management, fashion buying, fashion promotion, fashion advertising, public relations, creative direction, event management, styling, and visual merchandising.
Those who have completed class XII (with a degree awarded by a recognised Board of Higher Secondary Education) with an overall average score ranging between 70% and 75%. High Alevel and International Baccalaureate grades are also accepted. Candidates must have a minimum IELTS score of 5.5.
The course fee is £15,000 per annum. Seven Vice-chancellor’s International Undergraduate Scholarships worth £2000 each are available as a tuition fee discount for the first year of study.