Indian Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan said that there were discussions in the bilateral forum with Australian Minister of Education, Jason Clare regarding the huge pendency of Australian visa applications for Indians. He is on his visit to India till March 5.
Pradhan told that the Australia visa processing time and manpower remarkably slowed down after the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, they were assured by the Australian government to add more staff to increase the efficiency of the whole visa process.
He added that the earlier pendency of around 4 lakh visa applications has got down significantly in the last five months. Having said that, a substantial number of visa applications are still hanging. Therefore, the issue was again taken up at the bilateral forum when the two ministers had discussions about student mobility.
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Clare said that on a “top priority basis” Australia is working to clear the pending visas for Indian students. He is at present in India leading a delegation of Australian higher education leaders to promote a partnership between Australian and Indian institutions and boost educational collaboration between the two countries. His visit expands on Pradhan’s visit to Australia last year.
The two ministers also signed a framework mechanism that will mutually recognise educational and skill qualifications to help with the mobility of students and professionals. It is a follow-up on the agreement between them to establish a joint task force to recognise each other’s qualifications.
The task force comprises several senior officers from education and skill ministries and regulators of both Australia and India. Pradhan addressed the media to confirm that knowledge is considered a key pillar to establishing a bilateral relationship.
Additionally, the two countries have signed up eleven institutional memoranda of understanding (MoUs) for collaboration. Clare confirmed that Australia is eager to broaden the partnership between the countries in education and skilling.
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Source: The Economic Times, Hindustan Times
