Safe in the kangaroo’s lap

A new action plan promises to make Indian students safer in Australia

Safe in the kangaroo's lap

A new action plan promises to make Indian students safer in Australia

In the past six months, at least 30 people of Indian origin, most of them students, have been attacked in different parts of Australia. In light of the recent tragedies, the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI), an independent organisation registered under the Societies Registration Act of India, has developed an Eight Point Action Plan to ensure a conducive environment for Indian students planning to study in Australia.

Here's everything that you'd like to know about the new safety initiative.

Mutual might

The action plan includes points like feeding intelligence on fraudulent practices of agents to the Australian government bodies, working closely with department of immigration and citizenship, strongly advocating for interviews of students opting for vocational courses and organising stringent checks for eVisa lodgment among others.

The organisation has also planned steps to ensure that only genuine students go to Australia in future and eliminate education touts who are indulging in fraudulent activities and misguiding students.

"Australia is the second largest market for Indian students who pursue overseas education, and every year, this number has been growing exponentially.

In 2008 itself, over 40,000 students went to Australia from India. In order to maintain this growth and reinforce Australia's standing as a high quality education destination, the organisation has been strongly lobbying with the government bodies in India and Australia," reassures Gulshan Kumar Pathania, President, AAERI.

Only the beginning

The students' community visiting Australia feels that the action plan issued by the organisation may help to check untoward incidents in future. Akhil Srivastava, a Delhi University graduate planning to fly to Melbourne to pursue his MBA next year, believes, "These guidelines will definitely be beneficial to students. It will also save them from falling into the hands of fraudsters." Others say one such movement needs to usher in others. "It's too soon to say if anything will change. Things need to gain momentum and others need to join in," urges Manak Jha of Delhi University.

Plan of action
>>Working closely with Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Australia Education International and Australian High Commissioner on modules, which will serve as guiding principles for Indian students planning to study in Australia
>>Working closely with Indian community in Australia to understand the on ground situation and their concerns
>>Strengthening AAERI's disciplinary committee and working closely with authorities in India and Australia to act on substantiated complaints from students immediately
>>Conducting visa-training workshops across India to enable agents to help students during the entire visa processing stage
>>Undertaking regular exhaustive audits of AAERI 'Code of Ethics' followed by all 160 members and keep improving 'Entry Norms' for new members
>>Encouraging members to assume greater responsibility in case of conflict of interest between the student and the education provider