AUSTRALIA

Tight British visas drive Indian students to Australia

In a classic reversal of the situation a few years ago, Australian universities now stand to benefit from the recent tightening of student visa rules and a drastic fall in enrolments in Britain from India, reports the Indo-Asian News Service.

British universities have experienced a fall of more than 30% in Indian enrolments, while the number of Indian student visa applications for Australia has gone up by a whopping 120% in the past nine months and the number of visa grants has improved by nearly 80%.

Eric Thomas, president of Universities UK – the representative organisation for Britain's universities – has reportedly written to British Prime Minister David Cameron, warning that the immigration changes could cost the country as much as £5 billion (US$8 billion) in tuition fees alone.
Full report on the MSN News site