Melbourne: Against the backdrop of racial attacks and stricter immigration rules, Indian students' enrolment in universities in Australia's Victorian state has recorded a massive drop of around 40% in the first two months of the new academic year as compared to the same period in 2009.
According to latest figures provided by the federal education department, foreign students were now turning their back against the state's colleges, 'The Age' reported.
While international student "starts" for the first two months of this year dropped by three% nationally, they were down 12% in Victoria in comparison with the same period last year, it said.
The decline in Indian student figures has been most dramatic with their number in Victorian institutions plummeting from 6303 to 3761.
The report also said that apart from Indians, students from Malaysia, starting in the state, also recorded declining trend of 32%, compared to a national drop of 13%. Tose from Korea dropped by 13%, against a national decline of 3%.
Nationally, universities with higher education starts witnessed a 10% rise for the similar period. However, Victoria emerged as the only state to record a drop in that as well, where starts were down 9%.
In the controversial sector of vocational education that has been hit by several college closures, starts were down 6% nationally while Victoria's starts dropped by 13%.
However, education agents have stressed that the drop in students enrolment is mainly because there were now a very strict visa rules for Indian students.
Besides, a large number of Indian youths were brutally attacked, including racially, in Australia for the past one year.
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