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Chennai March 16 IDP Education Australia, recruiter of international students for Australian universities, plans to offer migration services to Indian students in Australia by the end of 2007.

Guidance

As of now, the agency helps students choose Australian universities and also handles their correspondence.

According to Mr Henry A.S. Ledlie, Director-India, IDP Education Australia, about 60 per cent of Indian students who study in Australia, migrate.

"They rely on agents to guide them. As we help them enter Australia, we feel we can now extend our services to guide them on the options available to get permanent residence," he said at a press conference organised at the Australian Education Interview Programme in the city.

More offices

Buoyed by the increase in Indian students coming to Australia, IDP is expanding its presence in India.

It will set up offices in major cities such as Amritsar, Ludhiana, Baroda, Pune, Kochi and Gurgaon by next month and plans to look at tier-II and tier-III cities such as Coimbatore and Tiruchi later this year.

"We expect these moves to increase our market share to 60 per cent this year," Mr Ledlie said. Currently, IDP contributes to about 40 per cent of all student visas issued by Australia. About 38,000 student visas were issued in 2006-07, an increase of 35-40 per cent over last year, he said.

Mr Ledlie also spoke of the increasing student preference for undergraduate courses in Australia. Twelve years ago, only 10-12 per cent of students coming to Australia opted for undergraduate courses. Today over 25 per cent of them do, he said.

There is also increased preference for engineering and information technology courses, he said.

IDP is now promoting emerging sectors such as biotechnology and hospitality. When asked why the once popular MBA course was no longer being promoted, Mr Ledlie said universities now preferred students with 2-3 years of work experience, unlike in the past where freshers were allowed to take up the course.

"Universities realised that MBAs without work experience could only fit into low entry jobs. So they have cut down drastically on accepting fresher applications," he told Business Line.

In terms of preferred places to study, universities located in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane (in that order) are the most preferred by Indian students, he said.

IDP is fully owned by all Australian universities and SEEK Ltd, an Australian employment Web site and offers free services.

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