E-Paper
Terror puts US down under as preferred destination
Inhospitality and visa hassles are turning Asians away from US varsities.
Fear of terror attacks, extra hassles with visas and a perception that Americans would be less welcoming are turning Asians away from US universities and towards Australian ones, a survey shows.
JWT Education asked 332 overseas students in Australian universities who came from China, Malaysia, South Korea and seven other Asian countries about their views on the best places to study.
In a similar study five years ago, a third of them said they would have preferred to be in the US, but only around one in 10 said that now. In 2005, around eight per cent said they would like to have gone to Britain against 15 per cent in 2000.
"There is a sense the US might not be so welcoming any more, that it's more difficult to get a visa and maybe when they are there it won't be so hospitable," JWT Education's Allison Doorbar said.
But it wasn't all good news for the Australian universities, as a majority of the respondents placed greater higher value on degrees obtained in the US or Britain.
