The Association of Australian Education Representatives in India celebrated its 20th anniversary last month at an event in New Delhi.
Working with support from Australian education bodies including Austrade, and the Department for Education and Training, the 90-member strong association works to assure the credibility and integrity of Indian education agencies who recruit students to study in Australia.
Rahul Gandhi, current president of AAERI, emphasised the importance of the association’s role in a student’s decision to study in Australia.
AAERI members are not only certified but also abide to the code of ethics, and have gone through the background checks
“For an Indian student, education is an investment of time, efforts and resources and the Indian parents do start saving resources from the day the child is born,” he told The PIE News.
“This is where AAERI has played a significant role. It makes sure that the AAERI members are not only certified but also abide to the code of ethics, and have gone through the background checks.”
Harinder Sidhu, the Australian High Commissioner to India, attended the celebration and lauded AAERI as a benchmark for professionalism of student services, member self-regulation and voicing concerns to the Australian government.
“The strength of an association such as AAERI is best seen I think in its ability to represent the views of its members to both the Australian High Commission and the Australian government,” she said.
The association was founded in 1996 by Tom Calma, current chancellor of the University of Canberra. Members operate some 400 offices across India.
All members have to undergo a third party integrity check and are certified by its Education Agent Training Course.
The association has also recently signed an MOU with the Nepalese association of Australian Education representatives.
Gandhi explained that reaching 20 years of operation is an achievement in itself “considering that all AAERI members are competitors”.
“By AAERI’s 25th anniversary, I would like to see AAERI as a global brand in promoting the Australian education and regulating the agents’ fraternity from the Indian subcontinent,” he said.
