Foreign students pay a big price for studying in Australia

Australia, the land of opportunities, is also the country which hurts foreign students the most financially. It has beaten US, Britain, Canada, Germany and Hong Kong to emerge as the most expensive destination for international students, according to an HSBC Bank report released on Tuesday.

Despite the fact that the annual fee in Australia and the US is almost identical, the increasing cost of living Down Under results in foreign students having to spend the most there. The study of 13 countries and territories revealed that the average annual cost of studying and living in Australia is $38,000 or Rs23,15,730, followed closely by the US ($35,000 or Rs21,32,910) and Britain ($30,000 or Rs18,28,210).

Expenses in Canada, Singapore, Japan and Germany are a lot less with Germany sitting at the bottom of the table with 1/6th of the cost in Australia.

Despite being at the top of the ladder when it comes to expenses, Australia remains a favourite destination for foreign students. Graham Heunis, HSBC Australia head of personal financial services, told ANI the falling Australian dollar looked set to give the nation an bigger boost in the popularity stakes.

Indian students, however, have avoided going to Australia following a spate of racist attacks there. Compared to 2010, there was an 80 per cent drop in the enrolment of Indian students in Australian universities in 2011.

A Mumbai-based educational consultant told dna: “In every country, education cost is high in top institutes based in big cities. It is lower if one chooses smaller institutes on the outskirts of a city. The same is true for cost of living.”

In 2011-12, over 1.03 lakh students went to study in the US whereas the figures for Australia and Britain were 54,349 and 29,900 respectively. Enrolments of Indian students in the three countries saw a decline because of the high exchange rate. In Australia, the high currency rate resulted in a 12 per cent drop in international enrolments between 2009 and 2012.(with agency inputs).

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