Usha Dasari completed her Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in politics, history, and English in India before migrating to Darwin in the 1980s.
Unable to get work as her tertiary education was not recognised, Ms Dasari had to study a postgraduate diploma so she could get work here as a librarian.
“I moved to Tasmania [as there was no postgraduate training option in Darwin at the time], a very cold part of the country and a very different part of the world,” Ms Dasari said.
“I found it very difficult to be alone and away from all my family, particularly my children, for that year.”
A young Pallave Dasari and her little brother remember the disruption caused to their family during the process their mother went through to get her international qualifications recognised. Source: SBS News / Supplied
“My family was scattered in three different places, it was upsetting for our parents, and destabilising for my brother and me to be separated from our parents,” Dr Dasari said.
“It was a difficult choice my parents had to make, but this temporary separation would allow my mother to be able to take up a professional role with greater income to support the family,” she said.
A new taskforce to be established by the Australian and Indian governments will seek to change this for people in similar situations to the Dasari family.
The announcement made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi earlier this week said the taskforce would address the recognition of online and blended learning, joint degrees and offshore campuses.
Acting Minister for Education Stuart Robert said in a statement the taskforce would identify opportunities for the recognition of Australian and Indian higher education qualifications and "make recommendations to improve arrangements based on best principles and practices in recognition".
“The taskforce will pave the way for new opportunities for graduates of both India and Australia to use their qualifications,” Mr Robert said.
The recommendations of the taskforce will be implemented in 2023.
International student Kanishka Chaudhary has welcomed the potential for her nursing qualifications to be recognised in both Australia and India. Source: SBS News / Supplied
Ms Chaudhary said the new measures could be of great assistance to students like her, who look to return to India for work in their chosen after their studies.
“In India, the scope of nurses is very dynamic - they are allowed to do a lot more in terms of the fieldwork as compared to the nurses in Australia, whereas the protocols and processes are so different, and both countries [currently] don't accept what you have learned in the other."
She said if she went back to India and said she’d completed her nursing degree in Australia, they would not accept the qualification.
“They don't recognise it and you just have to go through their process and get an Indian license or get sort of Indian acknowledgement that you are competent enough to work.”
Ms Dasari said she would have been delighted if it existed during her time as she and her international colleagues would have their degrees and experiences recognised in Australia allowing them to get jobs commensurate to their training.
"I would have been able to work directly in libraries and build my experience instead of taking the step of going to Tasmania to get the diploma."
Universities Australia Chief Executive Catriona Jackson told SBS News the task force looks like it'll benefit both Australian and Indian university students.
“Making sure our degrees are absolutely fit for purpose when Indian students, who are our second biggest group [of international students], go back to India is really important,” Ms Jackson said.
“It's also really important for Australian students if they choose to go and work in India, that their qualifications are properly recognised.”
The initiative will support the implementation of the Australian Strategy for International Education 2021-2030 with the taskforce to deliver a mechanism for expanding education qualification recognition between Australia and India by the end of the year.
