AUSTRALIA: Universities fail to impress Indian pupils

Australia appears to be struggling in the all-important perception stakes, with a new survey of Indian students showing that the UK and US are considered to have higher quality institutions and a better quality of life, writes Julie Hare for The Australian.

And in a worrying sign, when asked what word came to mind when thinking of Australia, 'kangaroo' rated the highest with 'racism' the third most cited word. Interestingly, the second most common word was 'good'.

The survey of 3,000 Indian senior high school students was conducted earlier this year by the Canadian company Higher Education Strategy Association. It hopes to provide insights into Indian students' attitudes about post-secondary education, potential destinations, expectations, plans and academic interests. The study found that while 56% of respondents considered Australian universities to be of high or very high quality, 10% thought they were of poor or very poor quality, and 27% of moderate quality.
Full report on The Australian site