Destination Down Under
YOGENDRA KALAVALAPALLI
SEEKING INFO: Students at the Mega Australian Education Awareness fair in Hyderabad.
For those students who intend to settle abroad after graduating from a foreign university, Australia remains a preferred choice.
The quality of all programmes offered by universities and self-accrediting higher education providers are monitored by the Government of Australia.
The country has 37 public universities, two private universities and 150 higher education institutions.
“Australia offers a number of advantages for a student to pursue a course,” says Srinivas Reddy, Director of Storm Consultancy.
He says course fee usually ranges from Rs.7-8 lakh for a diploma, Rs.12-15 lakh for a Master’s course and around Rs. 30 lakh for a Bachelor’s programme.
The cost of living works out to AUD 12,000 per annum approximately.
The admission procedure is also simple and fast. Apart from the conventional style, E-visa can be obtained online but it requires the applicant to have paid first semester fee to their university.
It usually takes four to six weeks for a visa application to be processed. Offer letter from the university or college, financial documentation and IELTS score card are needed to apply for a visa. Financial documentation should cover the costs for tuition fee, living expenses and other miscellaneous expenditure and can be shown in the form of liquid cash or fixed deposits or bank loan. An annual income between Rs.3-5 lakh also needs to be shown to the visa officer.
Australia boasts of the highest visa success rate and therefore the chances of securing a visa are good. A student visa permits multiple entries to Australia and also allows spouse and dependent family members to stay with the student as long as he/she pursues the course.
Taking up jobs
Students are allowed to work a maximum of 20 hours per week when their course is in session and for unlimited hours during semester breaks. Australia allows students to convert a student visa to a Graduate Skilled Migrant visa on successful completion of two years of study. This is granted based on a point based system. One has to score 120 points to get skilled migrant visa, says Mr. Srinivas. More information can be had from - www.dimia.gov.au/students/index.htm
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Education Plus
