Australian immigration say student visa applications up

More than 74,000 international students applied for Australian student visas in the three months to September 2013, according to Australian immigration. This is the highest figure for four years and seems to show that Australia has recovered as a favoured destination for international students after a three year slump in popularity. Australia became extremely popular as a destination for international students during the first decade of the 21st century. In 2002, 274,000 international students began study in Australia.
By 2009, there were nearly 500,000 people in Australia with student visas. While this was welcomed by many Australians, others complained that many students, from India in particular, were using forged academic qualifications to gain entry to the country and were coming to Australia not as students but as permanent migrants. More...