But the current surge has prompted concerns from lawmakers and the education sector about the integrity of Australia's immigration system and the long-term impact on the nation's lucrative international education market, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday.
"The volume of students arriving has come back a lot stronger than anyone was expecting," said
"We knew there would be a lot of pent-up demand, but there has also been a surge in non-genuine students," Chew was quoted as saying.
With many applications deemed by universities not to meet Australian visa requirements that they are a "genuine temporary entrant" coming solely for education, universities are putting restrictions in place to pre-empt their "risk rating" being downgraded, the report said.
An investigation by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers has obtained emails from within
Those universities that have restricted access to some Indian states are concerned Home Affairs will reduce their ability to fast-track student visas because of the number of applicants who are actually seeking to work - not study - in Australia.
Perth's Edith Cowan University in February placed an outright ban on applicants from the Indian states of Punjab and
These restrictions came just days after Prime Minister
Crucially, the agreement included a "mutual recognition of qualifications between Australia and India", which will make travelling to either country for university study easier.
The University of Wollongong in March also ratcheted up conditions on its "genuine temporary entrant" test on students from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Nigeria and "other countries deemed a risk (of students not being a genuine temporary entrant) by the Department of Home Affairs".
A spokeswoman for Adelaide's Torrens University said it too was "now looking carefully at each area where our applications come from" after the university told The Times Higher Education in March that it was considering only "very strong" applications from Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab, the report added.
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