Last year, I talked about the problem of brain-drain in Nepal. In recent time, one of the most preferred foreign destination for Nepali, Australia, is helping reduce brain-drain, by taking-in far less number of students. The argument, if it is helping the Nepali people in general is a matter of debate but, such a move by Australia has forced many prospective students to seek other destinations like North America and Europe.

Since February 2009, when the Australian High Commission, New Delhi issued a new visa policy on immigration the number of students going to Australia has decreased by almost 90%. The new policy is told to be more strict on ensuring the students have enough funds for their study in Australia.

When we look at the statistics:
In July 2007-June 2008 year, about 11,000 students went to Australia for higher education. The number decreased to 7,880 in the the year July 2008- June 2009. In the last year (from June 2009- December 2009) the number was a mere 1000.

In the year 2007/2008 Nepal ranked 13th in the number of foreign students in the US which was raised to 11the position in the year 2008/2009. With Australia taking-in less number of students, number of students in the US might be even more.  Continue reading