BANGALORE: In what could be the earlier trend of migration to Australia by majority of Indians, the country now has continued to be one of the top three destinations of choice for Indian students due to its academic quality and education system.

Though many Indian students preferred to study in Australia for migration and have permanent residency, nowadays the system and quality education now was attracting Indian students, as out of 3.90 lakh International students from more than 190 countries, 38,000 were Indians, the second largest source country behind only to China, Sean Kelly, Australian Consul-General for South India, told reporters here today.

In 2012, the number of Indian students granted visas for Under Graduate or Post Graduate study grew by 165 per cent over the previous year, a ringing endorsement of the attractiveness of study in Australia, Kelly pointed out.

There were many reasons responsible for the growth, in particular the reputation of the universities, the quality of living and the opportunities for students to work in Australia during and following study, he said.

As far as Tamil Nadu was concerned, Australia has a significant relationship with the education sector of the state, as there are 83 active higher education links between Australia and Tamil Nadu institutes, including 19 Australian universities and 34 Indian institutes, he said.

In fact, of 453 MoUs between Indian universities and research Institutes, Tamil Nadu has 80 MoUs with the Australian Counterparts, more than any other Indian state,Mike Carter, Consul (commercial), who was also present, said.

(With inputs from PTI)
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