By Freddie Cheah, For The Straits Times

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard will meet international students at a conference in Canberra amid lingering anger over dodgy private education institutions and attacks on students deemed racially motivated.

About 30 foreign students from universities across Australia will attend the two-day conference, which starts today, according to a press release from Ms Gillard's office.

The conference will address students' concerns related to a series of attacks in May and June on Indian students in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, which led to street protests and accusations that the police were not doing enough to ensure student safety.

The roundtable meeting follows a diplomatic charm offensive Ms Gillard made on a trip to India earlier this month where she assured Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Australia was still 'overwhelmingly safe' for overseas students.

During her visit, Ms Gillard, who doubles as Australia's Education Minister, also announced annual education talks with India. She said Australia planned to explore options for local universities to set up campuses in the sub-continent.

'This is a big opportunity for Australia in circumstances where India has a huge thirst to grow its education system,' she told public broadcaster ABC.

Ms Gillard also spoke of stronger laws to root out 'shonky' private education providers. 'We want them closed and out of business,' she said.

A number of international students have fallen prey to unscrupulous private education providers who failed to offer proper education while charging them hefty fees.

In July, Sterling College, a private vocational institution in Sydney, went bust. More than 500 students had their courses stopped and are in danger of losing their tuition fees. It was the third large college to collapse in the past 18 months.

Mr David Barrow, president of the National Union of Students, said that while federal and state governments had taken some steps to allay concerns - such as stepping up policing in areas where there have been attacks and re-registering all international education providers - more needed to be done.

'Governments must act to protect the individual welfare of international students, the long-term viability of the international education market and the jobs of thousands of Australians working in the A$15 billion (S$18 billion) education industry,' he said.

More than half a million students from various countries are studying in Australia, with nearly 100,000 Indian nationals forming the second largest group after China. International students are the third largest source of overseas earnings for the country.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.