Indian students and researchers in Australia and making of the skilled diaspora, 1951–1957

Abstract

In 1950s, Australia initiated the Colombo Plan, opening avenues for the training of numerous Asian students and researchers in critical areas requiring urgent attention in their home countries. Many of these individuals returned home only to later migrate back to Australia or move on to other developed nations as recognized experts in their respective fields. Among them were several Indian students, some of whom became the subjects of numerous publicity articles in the press, detailing their experiences in Australia. This article explores a brief history of Australia’s involvement with the initial cohort of Indian students, some of whom later became skilled migrants, examining their stories and analysing the significant challenges they encountered. Due to the lack of major books, memoirs, and oral history records documenting these students’ experiences, this article relies on contemporary newspaper reports and interviews published in popular Australian newspapers.

Keywords

• Indian diaspora
• Colombo Plan
• White Australia Policy
• international students
• education and training
• Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology College of Arts and Social Science, Kumasi, Ghana