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Australia is ready to welcome Indian students returned from Ukraine and willing to pursue their medical education in the country, a senior official of the Australian government said here on Friday.
“We were watching with great concern about the experience of Indian students in Ukraine and the care taken by the Indian government. Australia has some fabulous medical programmes and high quality institutions. While we haven’t heard anything specific from the Australian institutions, if the students were to apply, they would be processed swiftly like the applications from any other students who are applying for Australian programmes,” Monica Kennedy, Senior Trade & Investment Commissioner, Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Australian Government told BusinessLine.
She was speaking on the sidelines of the Australian Government’s ‘Study Australia’ Roadshow in Chennai to promote Australian education and highlight initiatives introduced by the government to support the international students.
The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has affected over 21,000 Indian students, most of whom were pursuing medical education in Ukraine.
Sumit Aggarwal, Regional Director, South Asia, CQ University, said, Australia has a very advanced system called ‘Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)’, which enables comparison of equivalency of degrees offered by renowned universities globally with the degrees offered by the Australian universities.
“So, when these students who are affected in Ukraine apply, that system will enable us to look at the ratings of the university/Institution where they studied from, progress of their studies and its equivalent in Australia etc,” Aggarwal said.
He, however, added that medical education in Australia can be 20 times more expensive than Ukraine.
IMC recognition
“The good thing about studying medicine in Australia is that the Indian Medical Council recognises all medical degrees done in Australia. So, when a student comes back, they don’t require a FMGE (Foreign Medical Graduate Examination), applicable for those returning from Ukraine or other countries,” Abizer Merchant, Director (India & Sri Lanka), Macquarie University, said.
FMGE is a screening test for medical graduates to be eligible to practice medicine in the country.
Indian students account for a significant portion of the international student diaspora in Australia. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, there were around 125,000 Indian students in Australia, which has now come down to 97,000. But the country has been witnessing significant interest from Indian students ever since it opened up its border to international students on November 22, 2021.
“Our academic year started a few weeks ago and we have our second intake in July. For the current year, we expect around 45,000 new enrollments from Indian students,” Kennedy said.
She added that between November 22, 2021 and March 18, 2022, over 28,000 student visas have been lodged by Indian nationals. “A surge of applications has been successfully processed with 15,310 visas granted from 22 November 2021 to 18 March 2022 and over 25,000 students arriving on our shores to begin or resume study at Australia’s quality education institutions.”
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