AUSTRALIA: India reacts to attacks on students

As media reporting in Australia and India continues to highlight attacks on Asian students, India's External Affairs Minister SM Krishna announced he would visit Australia to hold bilateral talks with the Australian government.

"I have decided to go to Australia. Dates are going to be finalised soon," Krishna told Indian reporters last week. Krishna's visit next month will be the first from the government since reports of attacks on Asian students sparked outrage across the sub-continent and generated alarm within the Australian government and education institutions.

Krishna said he has asked India's High Commissioner in Canberra to check the veracity of claims that 54 international students, nearly half from India, had died in Australia last year. But he said India enjoyed "a very good relationship with Australia" and noted that his visit would not focus exclusively on allegedly racist attacks on Indian students.

At least 20 Indian students have been attacked, some seriously and many allegedly the result of racist motives, in the past two months.

Meantime, an Australian delegation will meet with Indian government ministers and key officials in Delhi tomorrow (6 July) and will then travel to major Indian cities to speak with state governments and others to hear their concerns and reassure them Australia was a safe destination for Indian students. The delegation is led by a senior federal government official with others from the two big state governments, the Victorian Police and representatives of the higher education and vocational sectors.

A meeting of federal, state and territory government leaders in Darwin on Thursday agreed to develop a "comprehensive national strategy to improve the experience of international students in Australia and in turn benefit all of Australian society".

A communiqué following the meeting said the strategy would promote a broader vision of international education "to encompass the broader benefits to Australia and the home nation and place Australia's international education on a more sustainable basis. It would also:

* improve the international student experience through improved pre- and post-arrival information and engagement with the ethnic and broader Australian community;
* enhance general educational offerings that develop cultural understanding, tolerance and language skills;
* achieve a clearer articulation between international education and migration policies; and
* consider the quality of education providers.

Development of the strategy would proceed in parallel with the review of the Education for Overseas Students Act 2000 to enable alignment of amended legislation and the new strategy by June 2010.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had previously announced he would hold an "international student roundtable" in Canberra in September so international students could discuss issues affecting their study experience, such as accommodation, welfare and safety, and propose ideas for their resolution .

The Australian vice-chancellors' organisation, Universities Australia, welcomed the announcement of the student strategy and also released a new position paper, Enhancing the Student Experience & Student Safety, documenting good practice across the university sector.

geoff.maslen@uw-news.com