- Australia reportedly witnessed a surge in visa rejections due to some universities withdrawing admission offers and Indian students are rethinking their higher education plans
Every year, nearly 1 lakh Indian students head to Australia to pursue higher studies. According to sources, 1,00,009 Indian students were present in Australia in 2022. In 2019, 73,808 Indian students went to Australia on student visas, 33,629 in 2020 and 8,950 in 2021. While it has been a favourable study-abroad destination among Indian students for years, the recent changes and news have been discouraging students.
As per local reports from Australia, the country witnessed a surge in visa rejections due to some universities withdrawing admission offers. According to sources, the University of Wollongong (UOW) and La Trobe University have retracted offers to students who did not have strong application. However, the two universities have denied these allegations.
It has been said by UOW officials that the Department of Home Affairs (DoHA) visa outcome monitoring had recently identified an elevated risk of non-genuine applications and that the university has been adjusting processes related to admission and genuine temporary entrant screening processes in response to this.
Another popular Australian university, Deakin University, also confirmed that the varsity is currently conducting its admission process. The varsity welcomed nearly 3,000 Indian students in 2023. The officials said that the process for applications and enrolments for the academic year 2024 is still underway. While the varsities claim they are not rejecting applications, experts believe the impact is being seen in the recent study visa applications.
It has been anticipated by the officials that the overall migrant intake would decrease to 3,75,000 in the current financial year and further decline to 2,50,000 in the following year. The impact of these rejection rates and the stringent guidelines introduced by the Australian government is clearly noticeable. Many applications have been rejected without clear information provided by the authorities, increasing the uncertainty for prospective international students.
Experts said that a poorly written or unconvincing GTE (genuine temporary entrant) statement, failure to meet the academic requirements for the chosen course and providing false or misleading information or documents are some of the reasons for visa refusal. The GTE statement is a crucial part of the visa application process to demonstrate the intention to stay in Australia only temporarily for studies and then return to the home country.
In December 2023, the Australian government increased the minimum English language requirements for student and graduate visas. As per the revised rules, from early 2024, the test score required for a Temporary Graduate visa would increase from an IELTS score of 6.0 to 6.5 and for a student visa, it would increase from IELTS (or equivalent) 5.5 to 6.0.
The government had also introduced a new genuine student test for all international students. This test would replace the existing GTE requirement to acknowledge that post-study temporary migration pathways are available for those who may be eligible. The government also decided to scrutinise high-risk student applications and crack down on unscrupulous education providers. In addition to this, the amount of savings international students would need to be eligible for a student visa was also increased. Applicants need to show evidence of 24,505 dollars in savings, which is a 17 percent increase from previous levels.
