The appreciating Australian Dollar is making it expensive to enter an Australian university for tertiary studies. The funds required for student visa sponsorship is also high with the living expenses increased to AUD 18,000 a year from the earlier level of AUD 12,000. Sri Lanka is still at Level IV for visa applications. All these make it tougher than before for students to seek tertiary education in Australia.
However still Australia is among a handful of countries that encourage students who obtain a qualification in a skill required in Australia, to join the work force and if desired, to seek permanent residency.

The collapse of many private colleges as a result of new skilled migration rules has made it more difficult for foreign students to parlay low-quality diplomas in cooking and hospitality into permanent-residency visas. The Howard-era system that linked education and migration to a revenue-earner especially for universities is history. The reforms by the new government of trade in low-value qualifications and permanent-residency visas are accepted as necessary by both major political parties. As a result it may even be necessary for universities to increase their base funding rate for domestic students to off set the loss of income from foreign students.

The lower ranked universities that have become more reliant on international student income by offering lower priced courses to attract bigger numbers are more exposed now as against the higher placed universities which had their attention focussed on other income avenues like research grants. They have to adopt budget cuts. It is thus necessary to choose the institution to study carefully as good employment prospects will depend on the quality of the degree and the university too. Edlocate offers students a choice of 15 universities in 5 states and ACT with direct representation agreements with all of them.

Being a Streamlined Student Agency appointed by the DIAC at Australian High Comm-ission in Colombo, the counsellors at Edlocate are able to assist bona-fide students whose primary objective is to study rather than look for prospects of migrating, to genuinely overcome the tougher rules and checks for visas. On completion of studies, if the students desire to join the work force by applying for permanent residency, it is a secondary issue and the study plan for those who desire to do so will be carefully mapped out from the inception. .Edlocate with over a decade of operations in Sri Lanka offers all student consultations and counselling free of charge. Parents are welcome to be with the students. There are no limitations on the number of such counselling sessions.

The visa application fee is not charged upfront as some agents do in order to tie up students with the Agency. Students who meet our experienced and friendly counsellors are guided to enable them to make the right choice and are not forced to be tied to Edlocate as their Agent.

The two offices in Colombo and Kandy are fully geared to handle all the issues from placement to enrolment in the selected course with no hassles to students or parents. Edlocate's international office in Australia will help students throughout their study period with all genuine problems they encounter and even on completion of studies.