We still like Australia

AUSTRALIA remains a popular study destination of choice for prospective Indian students, a recent international student research study has found.

Streets of Melbourne

Of the 1688 Indian residents surveyed in the Taylor Nelson Sofres’ (TNS) International Student Research study , 73 per cent of participants rated Australia as attractive for higher education.

More than 30 per cent of prospective Indian students said they were thinking about studying in Australia.

While Australia was ranked third behind Britain and the United States as the preferred country for study, Australian universities dominated the top ten most popular universities.

Top 10 most popular universities

1. Australian National University
2. University of Sydney
3. University of Melbourne
4. University of Oxford
5. University of Queensland
6. National University of Singapore
7. University of British Columbia
8. University of Cambridge
9. Monash University
10. University of New South Wales

TNS Social Research director Cheryl Reed said students’ country of preference did not necessarily correlate to their university of choice.

“There are many factors that enter into the consideration set, including reputation, cost, safety and proximity – Australia continues to have the right mix for India,” Ms Reed said.

“Other positives were reputation for education, climate and quality of universities.”

Ms Reed said issues of safety and racism were raised as an area of concern by a quarter of the students surveyed, “but recent events have not tarnished the overall perception of Australia”.

Other findings:

Safety: Issues around safety or racism were a concern for 24 per cent of prospective Indian students.

Reputation: 28 per cent of prospective Indian students said Australia had an excellent reputation for education.

Recognition: 26 per cent of prospective Indian students regarded Australia’s universities among the best in the world, and felt their qualifications would be well recognised abroad.

Lifestyle: 24 per cent of prospective Indian students believed Australia had good student housing and afforded the best lifestyle.