Enrolment of Indian students in Australia is expected to slide by a whopping 21 per cent over safety worries in the aftermath of violent attacks on them and the country could lose around 70 million USD in revenue.
In its latest projection, Tourism Australia has said the recent spate of attacks on students will result in 4,000 fewer Indians coming to Australia to study next year.
'The downturn is expected in response to concerns that the Indian community have had about safety," Head of Tourism Australia's forecasting committee Bernard Salt said.
As the slide in inflow of Indian students comes about, Australia could lose over USD 70 million in revenue, the study said.
"What we are saying is that based on consideration of visa applications, there is 20 per cent hit in the number of Indian students coming in 2010," Salt said, adding that it was hard to say wether this drop could be a "knee-jerk, one-year reaction".
Gautam Gupta, President of the Federation of Indian Students in Australia, however, said the slump would not be as severe as feared earlier after a spate of attacks on students of Indian origin upto June this year.
"Our fears were that the slide could touch as high as 50 per cent. But it is going to be only 21 per cent," he said.
Australia's education industry has in recent years witnessed an unprecedented boom with the value touching as high as USD 15.4 billion a year and is listed as the country's third biggest export earner.
Students from India make-up for 19 per cent of those enrolling in Australian universities. Last year as many as 117,000 enrolled. PTI
