Australia’s top research universities, the Group of Eight, has called for relaxing visa conditions for Indian researchers seeking to pursue Ph. D in Australia. Earlier in August last year, the Go8 recommended to the government to introduce a special class of visa for Ph. D graduates and researchers in order to tap the higher education market in India.
A report prepared by academics from Indian and Australia identified the lack of finance and awareness and other logistical barriers as the obstacles in the flow of Ph. D students between India and Australia, reports news agency IANS.
The report also recommended to the Australia government to start a special class of visa for Indian Ph. D graduates and researchers.
Vicki Thomson, the head of Go8 said Indian companies and Australian companies based in India can jointly sponsor Indian students to study on Ph. D projects.
Experts have also foreshadowed the need for faculties in the burgeoning technical education sector in India.
"There is a great need of Ph. Ds as the number of institutes of learning have increased in India and these would be needing faculty members," Director of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Devang Khakhar said.
Mr Kharkhar is one of the authors of the report.
The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay has been running a joint Ph. D programme with the Monash University for the past eleven years. Mr Khakhar says IIT-B will invite Australian students to do Ph. D at the institute.
Though, according to the report, over a thousand Indian students were enrolled in Ph. D programmes in Australia in 2016- a massive increase since 2006- but Ph. D students are still a very small part of the total number of Indian students studying in Australia.
Last year, while recommending a special visa for Indian researchers and Ph. D graduates, Ms Thomson said the post-study work restrictions for the PhD graduates in the US presented an opportunity for Australia by proving a better pathway from PhD study to a career.
Currently, PhD students can apply for a post-study work visa which allows them to live and work in Australia for up to four years. But that doesn’t guarantee them a career in Australia.
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