The road leading to the Parliament of Victoria is dotted with Indian shops and restaurants selling everything from the latest Bollywood DVDs to samosas. Many of the taxis parked outside the century-old building are driven by Indian students trying to supplement monthly allowances from home. Over the past decade,Melbourne,like Sydney and other major Australian cities,has developed a thriving multi-cultural community,primarily due to the countrys third largest export education. When the attacks on Indian students started making news in India,Australia faced a direct attack on a brand it has carefully built up over many years. Our brand was based on the quality of education that we provide and safety we promised to those coming here, explained Simon Crean,Minister of Trade in the federal government. Because Australia is a safe society,the government started to study the circumstances that had led to the attacks. We tried to see if we could improve on things. It was then,Crean said,that the government could not help but notice even though this had no direct link with the attacks on Indian students the number of unscrupulous vocational colleges that had sprung up in the country. These colleges offerred frivolous courses that ultimately promised permanent resident status. The hundreds of students who took up these vocational courses were more vulnerable,said David Holly,Assistant Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Unlike what was promised by the institutes,most of them were forced to find accommodation on their own in cheaper neighbourhoods,which were also high crime areas. It was like someone from Australia living in a slum in some Indian metro,there is always a risk. On the other hand,students admitted to proper universities were staying within the campus and enjoying all facilities, said Holly. Many of these students had been offered admission in institutes offering courses in cooking or hairdressing,when they did not even have a kitchen on the premises. Why would someone want to spend $20,000 to do a course in hairstyling? It was ultimately a device for immigration,the colleges were set up just to provide visas, said Bill Fisher,State Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Victoria. Fisher was explaining how the Australian government cracked down on the fraudulent institutes and plugged policy loopholes to ensure that education could not be misused by unscrupulous agents to bring in people who might not normally qualify. For a certain period our migration policy wanted people in these fields. The institutes just capitalised on this factor, said Michael Willard,director of the Students Section at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. He added that there has been a drop in student visa applications from India this year,although he was not sure if the attacks were the only factor responsible. We had to make clear that we were not in the business of selling visas. we had a brand to protect, said Crean. He added that Australia has asked India to get a regulatory handle on agents operating in India,as many of the institutes in question were being run by Indians. Several of these institutes have since been shut down,the latest being the Meridian International School. But since the Australian government believes the students are not be blamed,as they came here in good faith and did not break any laws,most of them have been relocated to legitimate institutes,Crean said. The new policy stipulates that only institutes which are regularly inspected by the authorities can bring in students. Almost all our universities are government owned. Every time you see a university tag,you can be assured of the quality of education, said Fisher. While the general impression is that most attacks were carried out by drunk delinquents,some Indian students think it is best to lie low. After all,we are guests here,we should learn to behave like guests, said a laid-off Indian IT professional from Hyderabad who is driving a taxi till he finds a new job,underlining that things were not as bad as they were made out to be back home. Prof Ramamohanarao Kotagiri of the University of Melbourne,who has called this city home since he came here for his doctorate in the mid-1970s,said,Weve never had such problems (as the attacks on students) over here. The (unfamiliar) food used to bother us more. His colleague and Associate Professor Dr Muthupandian Ashokkumar thinks most students who were attacked were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Some of the new students also have a tendency to show off their gadgets and cash,which is not a good idea anywhere,let alone in Melbourne, added the Madurai-born academic who has been teaching at the University of Melbourne since 1995.
