India and Australia, besides sharing business and trade links, are closely linked by people to people linkages, said Michael Carter, Trade Commissioner and Consul Commercial, Australian Trade Commission.
He was speaking at the launch of the Australian Counselling Division of ELS Education Services India, here on Monday.
Referring to the future Indian students have with Australian Universities, he said that Australia has around 1,70,000 Indian students and that as many as 70 universities in Tamil Nadu have Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Australian Universities for providing quality and collaborative environment for students.
The Trade Commissioner said many students took up MBA courses, which helps cement basic technical degrees, besides taking up many research based courses.
Australia has relaxed visa regulations which allow students more freedom in terms of working part-time and access to education.
He also put forth the fact that many of the key areas Australia and India shared in terms of bilateral trade were those of infrastructure and resource and that the two-way market trade (goods and services) between the two countries amounted to 17.4 billion dollars with India being one of the 10th largest bilateral partners.
Mallik Sundharam, Managing Director, ELS Educational Services India, said that ELS Services had been providing education support services for both students and parents to help them make the best choice when it comes to studying abroad.
He said that ELS India would be looking to expand and add eight more branches in Tier I and Tier 2 cities over the next few years besides its headquarters in Chennai and branches in Bengaluru and Coimbatore.
Sundharam added that with the launch of its Australian Counselling Division, ELS would be able to show students and parents the various options of pursuing higher education across Australia free of cost through their counselling services.