Two Australian universities - Western Sydney University and Federated University - have barred entrolment of students from some Indian states due to visa fraud concerns. On Friday, FNU's education agents instructed them to no longer teach students from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir.
The university has observed a significant increase in the proportion of visa applications being refused from some Indian regions by the Department of Home Affairs, the letter to agents said. The University said it's clear that a trend is emerging, but it hopes this would be a short-term issue.
The university said it acknowledges the difficulties faced by genuine students from diverse regions at present and the likely impact of this decision on them and their families. Some 5,500 students are international, about a quarter of whom are international students.
Western Sydney University also said it must not accept students from Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat since a significant number of Indian students who began the courses in 2022 dropped out. The university has observed a significant increase in the proportion of visa applications being refused from some Indian regions by the Department of Home Affairs, the letter to agents sent earlier this month said.
The ban will be in effect for at least two months and the institute will also take steps to address the issue of non-genuine students enrolled in the university, it said. Changes in admission criteria, stricter admission conditions, and increased commencement fees are among the measures proposed by the federal government.
In a statement, a University spokeswoman said the decision was not taken lightly but it was necessary to protect the integrity of its international student program. However, the Federal University and Western Sydney University are not the only universities to do so.
In April, four other Australian universities-- Victoria, Edith Cowan, Torrens and Southern Cross - paused enrolment of Indian students. Australia's universities, Wollongong and Flinders, also made changes to their entry procedure in March this year for students from countries considered high risk but they did not say they were restricting enrolments from specific Indian states.
The colleges announced a ban on recruitment of Indian students from select Indian states, the Department of Home Affairs said: rejection rates for Indian applicants across all Australian universities reached the highest in a decade. About one in four applications by Indian students have been deemed either fraudulent or non-genuine by Australia s federal Department of Education, including offering inducements to encourage students to move from universities to cheaper vocational education providers.