Indian students attacked in Australia, a cause of concern

There have been a series of attacked on the Indian students studying in Australia. This has started a debate in Indian media about the safety of Indian students in Australia. These attacks have been allegedly racial and this is cause of concern for the Governments of both the countries and the students in Australia. But some as usual the matter seems to be blown out of proportion and BJP leader is demanding to send young MPs to Australia to reassure the Indian students of their safety. I have talked with some of the students their but for them life seems as normal. We should not forget that every, in a fact a large number of them, Indian student in Australia is not from very rich family background and they work part time in till late night or early morning as cab drivers and in shops. It is difficult to secure each and every person walking after midnight in most of the cities around the world. Burglars would like to use such opportunity and these attacks or robberies do not need to motivated by racial discrimination but by opportunity. It has also come to notice that the students being targeted were generally living in the suburbs and not in or near the cities to save money.

India can not do much for the safety of the Indian in other countries, including Australia. Though the government can raise the issue through diplomatic channels and apparently, Prime minister Manmohan Singh has already talked to his counterpart in Australia, Kevin Rudd and asked for safety for the Indian students. If India really thinks that Australia is dangerous and racist place then the government can issue travel advisory to the citizens of India to avoid Australia.

At the same time, it is serious issue for the government of Australia. Though they do not have many good university but their efforts to attract foreign students have been largely successful and education sector has become third largest ($13.7 billions) contributor to Australia's foreign exchange. Issue of foreign students have been raised earlier as well by other countries including China.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008

It is very much possible that some anti-social elements are exploiting the venerable international students but this can hurt the brand image of Australia (and New Zealand as well) as center for higher education. Government of Australia need to find out the cause of these attacks and try to resolve the issues with the help of universities and local administration. Huge amount of foreign earning is at stack so if image control is not done properly other countries, e.g. Canada, might get bigger share of the 'education export' sector.