Two more Australian universities ban students from some Indian states amid visa fraud concerns: Report
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Two more universities in Australia - the Federation University in Victoria and Western Sydney University in New South Wales (NSW) -have banned recruitment from some Indian states in response to fresh concerns over a rise in fraudulent visa applications. According to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald on Monday (May 22), these two universities wrote to education agents last week, instructing them to no longer recruit students from Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, and the Union Territory of 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 Federation University said in its letter, adding "We hoped this would prove to be a short-term issue (but) it is now clear there is a trend emerging."
The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Western Sydney University as saying, "A large number of Indian students who commenced study in 2022 intakes have not remained enrolled, resulting in a significantly high attrition rate."
The university said that Punjab, Gujarat, and Haryana were the regions that presented the highest attrition risk.
"Due to the urgency of this matter, the university has decided to pause recruitment from these regions in India, effective immediately," the university told agents, adding, recruitment from other regions of India would continue as usual.
The Western Sydney University said the ban would be in place for at least two months -- May and June 2023.
It further highlighted that additional measures would be taken "to address the issue of non-genuine students enrolling with the university from these regions, including changes to application screening, stricter admissions conditions and increases to commencement fees".
In April, several Australian universities, includingEdith Cowan University and Torrens University, imposed a ban on students from some Indian states with fraudulent applications seeking to work, and not study, in the country.
Australia is reportedly set to enrol the highest number of Indian students ever, surpassing the previous high of 75,000 in 2019.
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