By IANS,
Sydney : Australia’s Education Minister Julia Gillard was asked Thursday to find alternate courses for international students, including those from India, who have been affected following the closure of a college here.
About 500 students, mainly Indians, were affected when Sterling College, which offered courses in information technology and community welfare, closed at the end of July.
“There are a number of international students who are at risk of deportation and losing thousands of dollars in course fees, through no fault of their own,” Senator Hanson-Young was quoted as saying by The Australian.
She said she had written to Gillard about the matter and asked her to intervene.
“I have written to the deputy prime minister to ask her to find new places for the Sterling College students and others affected.”
A senate inquiry had been told that hundreds of overseas students from the failed Sterling College have still not been transferred to new courses, a month after the college collapsed, ABC News reported Sep 2.
The Federation of Indian Students of Australia had then said that only 34 students have found new places.
One student told the senate inquiry that if she does not find a new place soon she will lose her tuition fees and have to go back to India.