The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Road shows to create awareness of studying in Australia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 19, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Road shows to create awareness of studying in Australia

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JULY 18. A delegation from Australia, comprising representatives of a few universities and firms engaged in providing support services to international students, will be holding road shows across south India to create awareness of the aspects of studying `Down Under.'

Briefing presspersons here today, Vasan Srinivasan of Universal Student Services, who is leading the delegation, said Australia offered good education and job opportunities for students from various countries. It accorded permanent residence status on students performing well academically.

Noting that a wide range of courses in information technology, engineering, business, law and medicine and vocational employment studies such as cooking and hairdressing were available in Australia, he said an estimated 10,000 Indian students came to Victoria last year to pursue higher education.

The delegation would be holding road shows in Chennai, Tiruchi, Madurai, Kodaikanal and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu; at Kochi in Kerala; at Bangalore in Karnataka; and at Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh between July 18 and 29. It would hold discussions in Chennai from August 2 to 4. For details, contact Chennai telephone numbers: 98415-99004/98410-21271.

Mr. Vasan said the Universal Student Services provided free guidance to Indian students about the courses available in Australia and help in selecting the right course. It created awareness of the admission procedures and arranged for their visa.

The delegation, he said, had representatives from the Universities of Ballarat, Monash, Swinburne and the ACTH Management College and Eltham College. Senior executives of Student Services International (SSI) and ANZ Banking Group were also part of the team.

According to Peter Vlahos, barrister and solicitor of Universal Consultants, the option of migrating to Australia was not a right of the international students, but a privilege bestowed by the country. Australia, he added, "welcomed the good source of educationally qualified people."

Benjamin Cass, director of SSI, said the firm was engaged in providing a range of support services to the students, from finding an accommodation to helping them seek permanent residence status in Australia. The charges for accessing the services, he added, were negligible compared to the cost of education.

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