Australian Universities to Ban Indian Students From Certain States

SYDNEY: Two more Australian institutions have prohibited the admission of Indian students from certain states due to an increase in fraudulent visa applications, said a report.

Bans on the admission of students from Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have been announced independently by Federation University in Victoria and Western Sydney University in New South Wales.

Last Monday, both colleges sent separate letters to education agents requesting that they stop seeking out students from these states. According to the report, the country's Department of Home Affairs currently considers one in every four applications to be "fraudulent" or "non-genuine."

It is important to note that the restriction was announced before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-day visit to Australia on Monday when a sizable gathering of the Indian diaspora was planned for Sydney. PM Modi and PM Anthony Albanese of Australia have agreed to promote student mobility and cooperation. To encourage exchanges in industry, research, and education, they signed an agreement on migration and mobility. This action will promote cultural and knowledge exchange between the two countries and boost bilateral connections.

In a letter dated May 19, Federation University reported that they had noticed a considerable rise in the percentage of visa requests from various Indian districts that the Department of Home Affairs was rejecting.“We hoped this would prove to be a short-term issue [but] it is now clear there is a trend emerging,” the letter said. "We hoped this would prove to be a short-term issue (but) it is now clear there is a trend emerging," the letter said.

In a letter to agents, Western Sydney University stated that it could no longer accept applications from Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat due to the high number of Indian students who began their studies in 2022 but dropped out.

The university announced that the ban would last for at least two months and that additional measures, such as changes to application screening, stricter admissions requirements, and increases in commencement fees, would be implemented "to address the issue of non-genuine students enrolling with the university from these regions."

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