On top in Down Under
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A felicitous mix of low cost of education to admission into a good university to visa formalities is what Australia offers to students, writes Sumit Bhattacharjee
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STUDYING IS COOL MATE!: The ambience and the setting is loaded in favour of students. A scene at University of South Australia in Adelaide.
In another 10 years Australia is going to overtake the US in the higher education front. ``In 1989 the number of Indian students Down Under numbered only 10 out of one lakh foreign students. Today it is over 40,000 and number of foreign students is little over three lakhs.
Australia is today what the US was 20 years ago,'' said Robert Dilinger of Dilinger Consultants at a recent seminar in Visakhapatnam.
Having studied and worked in Australia and loaded with over 10 years of consulting and immigration experience, Robert shares some of them in a tete-a-tete with The Hindu Education Plus to clear the clouds in the minds of prospective students to Australia.
Why Australia is being preferred by students? ``The reasons can be many. Everything is simple, right from getting an admission into a good university to the visa formalities and from getting an Australian citizenship to securing a good job.''
Advantage Australia
Just by glancing through the brief details one would understand why Australia and New Zealand are being preferred.
Economically advanced, safe place for study and job, low crime rate, English is common language, multi-cultural in character, common games, cricket and hockey, which are a major advantage, all universities are controlled by those Governments, encouraging the mix of foreign and local students, similar weather conditions, low cost of education and living, ample opportunity for part-time on/off campus jobs, simple process for admission and visa and vast opportunity for permanent residency (PR).
Low cost of studying
The cost of studying in Australia is pretty lower than in the US or the UK, considering that there is no grant or aid. One has to show that he or she has sufficient funds to cover the fee plus living cost plus travel, and that will be their liquid fund requirement.
The fee depends on the university and course. In Australia there are graduate diplomas and master's programme for one year, one-and-half years and two years duration. The fee ranges from Rs.5 lakhs to Rs.9 lakhs per annum. The living cost comes to the same range.
One should be in a position to show about 50,000 Australian dollars that amounts to Rs.17,50,000 in his or her liquid fund statement for a two-year programme.
As far as aid and grants are concerned, universities in Australia and New Zealand are not very open like those in the US. Full waiver is rather nil.
One can only avail oneself of partial waiver and that, too, if he or she has an exceptionally good academic track record right from high school days.
However, research scholars could get 100 per cent waiver after completion of their MS, if the project is good.
On the other hand, on and off campus jobs are plenty. One can easily earn from 150 to 200 Australian dollars a week, which is sufficient for a decent living.
"During vacations good English speakers can even get hold of full-time job in call centres and local software companies,'' Mr. Robert says. Another big advantage of studying is Australia is the factor of permanent residency.
"While in the US it takes a minimum of seven years to get a green card, in Australia after two years of MS, one can get a PR within nine months,'' he says.
Top universities
University of Melbourne
University of Sydney
RMIT University
Monash University
Victoria University
Swinburne University
University of Canberra
La Trobe University
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