Embassy cautions against misleading info

KATHMANDU, Nov 6 - Australian Embassy on Wednesday cautioned Nepali students planning to enroll in Australian education institutions to verify information provided by education consultants in Nepal. "There has been massive increase in the number of students going to Australia for education, so is the number of agents providing consultancy ...

Kelly H Raj, counsellor of education said as of September 2008, there were 15,766 Nepali students in Australia. "This reflects a growth rate of 110 percent compared to enrolments in the year 2007, which was 7,503," she said. Higher Education enrolments are up by 37 percent and vocational enrolments are up by 159 percent.

She said quality education was also available in places other than Melbourne and Sydney, the two largest Australian cities where most Nepalis are based.

"We want prospective students and their parents to do more homework and research over the information that they get about their education institutions because we have found consultancy centres giving misleading information.

Ambassador Lade said Australian authorities were well aware that a number of Nepali students (48 of them in one case) were made to live in a single apartment and Nepali and Indian students were exploited by Indian restaurant owners. "You have to go to the agencies that can give accurate information otherwise you can be at risk," he said.

He said agents were alluring students with promises of cheaper accommodation and asking them to choose subjects they were not interested in. "We issuing visa means that the students have demonstrated enough proof that they can afford accommodation in Australia while studying," he said. However, students have work permits to work for 20 hours a week. They can work more during vacation period, he said.

According to him, the embassy had been noticing several advertisements that give misleading information like visa guarantees. "Visa is a completely separate process," he said.

He also said the embassy had recorded incidents of fake marriages to get dependent visa. He said an immigration team is currently here in Nepal and is trying to work with umbrella organisations of agencies.

"But the difficulty is that majority of such agencies are not members with umbrella organisations," he said. "We are also working with the Nepali government to develop regulatory framework to regulate agents.