RG: It was set up in 1996 as an initiative of the Australian government. At that time there was a gentleman called Tom Calmer, the Australian Counsellor, who initially had the idea of regulating agents in India. He suggested to set up an AAERI which is a democratic, non-profit body. At the end of the day, AAERI is a group of collaborators; without the initiative of the Australian government we would never have come so far.

“AAERI is a self-regulating body, and to be honest it is the only successful model I have seen”

Today we have almost a hundred members across 500 offices. Every member has gone through a third party integrity check and they represent at least one university every year. They have to renew the membership every year, do the due diligence and background checks and most of the counsellors are certified by Education Agent Training Course.

The PIE: What are the advantages of joining?

RG: AAERI is a self-regulating body of agents in India, and to be honest it is the only successful model I have seen. Members follow the code of conduct, plus we share input day in and day out. Most important today, if you want to promote Australian education in India, you need to be an AAERI member, because most of the education providers do ask for AAERI membership.

The PIE: Do you still work closely with the Australian government?

RG: AAERI has meetings every quarter in different parts of India, and all the meetings are attended by the staff of the Australian government which includes DIBP [Department of Immigration Border Protection], staff from Austrade and staff from Education Australia. We share our inputs, they do give us the feedback and they will share inputs on a time-to-time basis.

The PIE: What goals is the association working towards over the next few years?

RG: My primary goal for AAERI as an association is that we want to brand the association across the globe; if we have a strong brand as an association obviously the members are benefiting.

The PIE: What are the biggest challenges for Indian agencies sending students to Australia?

RG: The world keeps on changing and there are a lot of events that define a lot of moments. Currently the tuition fees in Australia are going up every intake, every year. We find some of the education providers in the US much cheaper than Australian education providers, though they may not be of the same level, but there are many factors that define the challenges. And there are new reforms coming up starting in a couple of weeks’ time, so the landscape keeps on changing.

The PIE: Do you think the new streamlined student visa framework will help Indian students?

“AAERI members are deeply affected due to course hopping. Serious education agents are losing their reputations and income”

RG: In principle, it should help the Indian students. However, the challenge is in understanding the genuine temporary entry requirements as per the assessment levels. These GTE requirements vary based on the financial background, English requirements and the previous academics of the student.

The PIE: Have you or your members been affected by Australia’s course-hopping issue?

RG: AAERI members are deeply affected due to course hopping. Not only are the huge offshore marketing investment and subsequent financial returns of serious Australian education providers being lost, but also serious education agents who recruited the student offshore are losing their reputations and income as a result of non-genuine student actions for which they have no control. And with the introduction of the SSVF system in July, more providers will join the pool.

We have filed a petition in this regard [for the Australian Government to prevent international students from changing providers for 12 months].

The PIE: Talking about non-genuine students, how often do you have people coming to your own agency that you think aren’t genuinely interested in studying?

RG: We have a lot of people coming through and [at Take off Education] we filter a fifth of them every time. The first thing we try to find out is are they really genuinely interested in studying, and if they are interested, why they are interested in studying. If they talk about everything except studies, it means they are not a genuine student.

“If they talk about everything except studies, they are not a genuine student. We filter a fifth of them every time”

The PIE: So how many students do you send abroad each year?

RG: We recruit more than 500 students a year to different parts of world. I am observing the graduate market share is increasing; a lot of schools in India are IB schools, English boarding schools where the desire to study courses is very high from a young age.

The PIE: Do you think that trend towards studying abroad at a younger age will keep on growing?

RG: I think the undergraduate market is to be really observed very carefully and that’s where the growth will be.

The PIE: Since you send students to the US, are you concerned about the impact the election might have on India-US student mobility?

RG: Honestly speaking, elections have got no relation with education. If you see, students from India have been travelling for more than one hundred years to all different parts of the world, irrespective of whatever happened, right? We all like to observe what is happening in the election but that doesn’t affect the decision to study in any part of the world.

The PIE: Getting back to Australia – what are some of the biggest competitive advantages it has for Indian students over other study destinations?

“Return on investment does matter. The Indian rupee is depreciating every year”

RG: There are two main factors: the first factor is the post-study work, you are fortunate to work after studies in any destination. The second is any education which gives them a job, whether it’s overseas or in India. Today to students, studying overseas is an investment, it is not an expense and hence to recover that is very important, so they would like to recover at least some portion of their investment before they come back home.

Return on investment does matter. The Indian rupee is depreciating every year; for example, the education provider may only increase the fees by 3% but the rupee might depreciate by 10%, so the cumulative effect is 13%, which is huge.

The PIE: Is the declining rupee a big concern for students at the moment?

RG: The depreciating Indian rupee and the ever increasing costs of overseas study is a major concern. I remember when I went to Australia as a student my annual tuition fees was hardly $10,000, today in a span of 15-16 years the average tuition fee in education is more than $30,000, 15 years ago one Australian dollar used to be 27 rupees; today it is almost 48-49. That is where the real challenge is.

The good side of it is that the Indian economy is also growing and parents are more cautious about their future investment in terms of education. I have seen a lot of parents for 10-15 years making a pool of savings for their children’s education. But finance is always a pressure and I would never say it is a very low level pressure.