STAR CAMPUSES: (Top) Trinity College, The University of Melbourne; (Above) Students at the ANU Business School

With more than 1,100 universities, training colleges and schools offering some 25,000 courses, Australia attracts thousands of students from all over the world every year. But for Indian students, the main attraction is a group of eight leading state-funded universities, known as GO8.

A recent trip to some of the leading universities ? including the Canberra-based Australian National University, the Brisbane-based University of Queensland, The University of Melbourne and Monash University ? provided an opportunity to interact with a large number of Indian students studying there. For them, the primary attraction is that Australian universities offer a wide range of combined degrees in arts, science or commerce that can help students land good jobs in that country.

For instance, the Australian National University (ANU) offers a four-year degree in commerce and information technology and a five-year degree in engineering and information technology. Such combined degrees are fast becoming the order of the day, says Prof. Malcolm Gillies, ANU?s deputy vice chancellor (education). Besides, some of the universities boast of internationally recognised programmes in cutting-edge technologies, including robotics.

Engineering courses are tailormade for the changing needs of industry. For example, companies are now preferring employees with degrees in both mechanical and electronic engineering to those with degrees in any one of the streams. So the major Australian universities are now offering engineering courses in subjects like mechatronic, a cross between mechanical and electronic engineering.

The trend is catching on in other areas as well. The University of Queensland, for example, recently introduced a postgraduate degree in health economics, says Prof. Kartik C. Roy of the university?s economics department. ?This course is extremely relevant to students from India where the private health sector is booming and is in need of qualified administrators,? he says.

Australian universities put great emphasis on research. ?We have a strong record in discoveries and are ranked very high in the world,? says Prof. Frank P. Larkins, deputy vice-chancellor (international) of The University of Melbourne, which in collaboration with some 60 biomedical research institutes accounts for nearly 35 per cent of the medical research in the country. Larkins says India is the second biggest source of international students for Australia. The preferred areas of study for Indians include business, management, engineering and bio-medical studies.

No GMAT or GRE score is required for enrolling in Australian universities. Students are admitted to undergraduate and postgraduate courses on the basis of their academic records. ?We don?t usually take admission tests, but we do look at undergraduate qualifications,? says Prof. Trevor Grigg, deputy vice-chancellor of The University of Queensland. Shveta Sharma, an engineering student at The University of Melbourne, says that Australian universities put more emphasis on application and critical analysis than on gaining mere theoretical knowledge. ?Rote learning has no place here,? says Sharma.

Studying in Australia is cheaper than pursuing higher studies in the US or the UK. Only a few scholarships are available though. ?The business schools in the US are too costly, but here you get personal attention and an internationally recognised education at a cheaper rate,? says Manvinder Singh, a former student of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, who?s doing an MBA at The University of Melbourne.

International students are allowed to work up to 20 hours a week and for unlimited hours during vacations. This largely covers their living expenses. ?You can easily get part-time jobs at local restaurants and night clubs, and earn Australian $ 600-800 a month. That?s enough to take care of your food, rent and electricity costs,? says Praveer Gupta, who is doing a postgraduate course in biotechnology at The University of Queensland.

No wonder Australia is fast emerging as a top choice for many Indian students. ?The number of students choosing Down Under as an education destination has risen dramatically. While the US is losing ground in terms of fresh student visa numbers, the growth in the Australian student visa number has been close to 200 per cent over the last couple of years,? says Ravi L. Singh, managing director, Global Reach, a Calcutta-based overseas education consultant that helps students get into different Australian universities. He says the Australian government has now allowed Global Reach and a few other consultants to get e-visas for students.

A vast country with a population of only 20 million people, Australia is on the lookout for skilled immigrants and many international students end up being residents, if not citizens, of that country. Mayukh Dutta is a case in point. The Calcutta boy went to RMIT University in Melbourne to do his M.Tech in the mid-nineties. He has stayed on. ?It?s a lovely country with warm people and a multicultural society. I have no plans to go back to India,? says Dutta, who is currently employed as a web coordinator at RMIT.

Next week: Focus on The University of Queensland and the Australian National University