In the year 2007, Australia became one of the most favoured educational destinations for the Indian students, particularly with regard to the short term courses and diplomas in vocational education.In terms of total number of students,who went to Australia, it overtook the immigrants to the UK and is fastly catching up with the number of students going to the US for higher education.
The Australian growth rate was rapid,in the first ten months of 2007,there were 59,449 Indian students enrolled in the Australian Universities,63 % increase over the last year and 400 % increase over the year 2002.VET students account for 43 % of these students, compared to just 12 % two years ago.
The most popular vocational education courses for Indians are in Engineering,information technology,bio-technology,hospitality, healthscience and business.As per the statement of the education adviser at the Australian High Commission,in New Delhi, the rise in strength of the students in VET category is unprecedented.
The Australian VET courses are vibrant and made them job-ready.The VET courses are designed to provide competencies that are critical for the industry, which distinguishes the Australian Universities from other Universities in the World.
Another factor for the increase is the cheaper costs of education in Australia comparing with UK or USA.Besides the ‘big eight’private universities are considered equivalent to TAFE in the US.
Another reason is that it is relatively easy to get a job in Australia than in the US, where there is a huge demand and long waiting list for work visas and one can even settle in Australia after two years of study in Australia.
And above all the easier application process that you need not appear either in GRE or GMAT to go for higher education in Australia and the process of getting into an Australian University will take only maximum ten months whereas to go to US it takes atleast two years.