Australian Universities reach out to India

23/09/2011 0 Comments read Education, Features

University of Sydney Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 23.09.2011 (Business Standard): Attacks on Indians in Australia, and a subsequent steep drop in Indian student enrollment, have pressed Australian universities to engage more with India. As the dust settles on the furore surrounding attacks on Indian students, which has strained bilateral relations and threatened Australia’s multi-billion-dollar education export sector, Australian universities are going all out to engage with Indian educational institutions.

This isn’t all that surprising considering that the number of offshore applicants from India fell from 18,514 in the 2009-10 financial year to just 6,875 in 2010-11, a drop of 63 per cent. From setting up joint academic and research collaborations to offering scholarships and exchanges, universities are keen to re-build Australia’s reputation as a convivial and safe study destination.

Continue reading →

Punjab National Bank opens office in Sydney

17/09/2011 0 Comments read Business and Trade

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 17.09.2011 (IANS): Punjab National Bank (PNB), the second largest government-owned bank in India, opened a representative office in the heart of the central business district here on Thursday, becoming the fourth Indian bank to establish a presence in Australia.

“We are hoping to get regulatory approval from authorities in both countries to upgrade this representative office into a full-fledged branch within a year,” said chairman and managing director K R Kamath.

Continue reading →

Australian Red Cross campaigns to Make Nuclear Weapons the Target

06/09/2011 0 Comments read Nuclear Disarmament

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 06.09.2011 (InDepth News Analysis – IDN): It was 7am on a fateful day in 1953, 10-year-old Yami Lester and a group of Aboriginal children were playing with a toy truck, when they heard a loud bang intercepted with several small bangs as the ground beneath their small feet shook.

“We saw a shiny black cloud coming from the south, moving above and through the trees, which spread across 70 miles. We shut our eyes as they began to burn. In the days that followed, about 50 Yankunytjatjara people in Walatina began to complain of skin rashes, sore eyes, vomiting, diarrhoea and coughing. There was no treatment on the cattle station. The closest health clinic was hundreds of miles away and we had no transport,” says Yami Lester, who was living160 km from Emu Junction in South Australia, the site of the first nuclear test on mainland Australia.

Continue reading →