Having come to New Delhi for the launch of the Victoria India Doctoral Scholarship Programme, Victoria?s Commissioner to India, Geoffrey Conaghan, discussed Australia-India ties, attacks on Indian students in Australia that took place last year and much more in an exclusive interview with Nitika Gupta. Edited excerpts:
What is the most special feature of the Victoria India Doctoral Scholarships (VIDS)?
On the qualitative side, the scholarships are specifically targeted to Indian scholars. It?s the first package of scholarships in Australia that have been specifically targeted at one nationality. They are open to any of the nine universities in Victoria?all of whom have their specialisation. The range of research opportunities is extremely wide. On the quantitative side, these are the most lucrative doctoral scholarships available anywhere at the moment. There is a AUD$90,000 allowance, and this full tuition fee waiver. And the reason I mentioned that about the money is we want to attract 10 of the best Indian scholars to undertake research in Victoria. So that?s why these scholarships are so lucrative.
How do you see the scholarship programme shaping up in the future?
It is a one-million dollar initiative by the Victorian government altogether and 10 scholarships. We will see how it goes but it?s a particularly generous package and it will create 10 eminent scholars doing research work in Victoria and coming back to India. It?s going to be interesting to see what they produce?both in terms of pure research, publications and lectures. We want public lectures from them and we?ll also be expecting to hear what they do. So, this won?t be research which is buried. Part of getting very good scholars means it won?t be buried.
How successful has been the pact that was signed between Karnataka and the Victorian government in 2005? How have your India operations progressed?
The 2005 agreement laid the platform for a broader engagement and we have doubled in size. The Victorian government office is now the largest of all the state representative offices in India. We have created three additional positions in the last 12 months and now we have a team of 11 in India just to look at Victorian trade, investment and education services. There is a separate office that operates on tourism in Mumbai. In terms of trade, Indian exports to Victoria have increased by 49% since 2005 and Victorian exports?and this is just in goods?have increased by 45%. Trading goods is now worth AUD$1 billion. Tourism is good. It?s recovering even with the highest rate in dollar. Last month, the Australian High Commission announced that it had issued 100,000 visas to Indians to visit Australia for business, education and tourism. It had never issued a 100,000 visas in any 12-month period and this is a record in itself.
What about the Hindi Website that has been launched?
It has been a cultural shift to translate our Website into Hindi because all students speak English as a prerequisite to study abroad. So, we had the English Website and translating it into Hindi was to give the aunty, grandmother, uncle and grandpa another standing of what their money is being spent on and what the opportunity is. So, we put the suggestion through to Melbourne that we had to have the whole site translated into Hindi and I thought it was a great idea and it was done fairly quickly. Then we discovered that it?s the only foreign government Hindi language Website anywhere. We were really surprised that nobody else had thought of it.
In view of the last year?s attacks on Indian students in Australia, are there any specific security measures that have been taken to ensure better security?
It has now become a popular concept that Indians are at quite a risk in Australia. There are 2.4 lakh Indians in Victoria?45,000 students and 2 lakh are a permanent settled community. The number of assaults were, as a percentage, quite small. Most of them were opportunistic thefts. Unfortunately, some of them turned out to be fatalities. There were often robberies but it was all painted as attacks against Indians. For their security, a 24-hour students? helpline service is being established. There?s also the welcome kit including a culture card which is about engaging with a wider Australian community. What we saw was that students tend to cluster in their own ethnic groups, so the culture card is issued to all foreign students and it?s a two-for-one or a 50% discount offer to go to sporting events, cultural events and community events to get people off the campus and to engage more widely with the broader community. So it?s an engagement initiative.