Adelaide tops as Australia’s safest city for overseas students

Release Date: Oct 25, 2009

Adelaide’s overseas students have rated the city as the safest and most friendly city in Australia.

Student placement organisation IDP International surveyed 6000 students recently at universities and schools across Australia and internationally.

Adelaide was rated as safer, friendlier, cleaner, greener and more affordable than any other Australian city.

IDP Education chief executive Tony Pollock says Adelaide ranked well on safety which would allow it and the smaller capitals, to play to their strengths in the international student recruitment market.

“Adelaide is a city with a reputation for being affordable, clean, quiet or green. This is appealing to families overseas,” Mr Pollock says.

The IDP poll also surveyed 1,100 students from India studying in Australia.

“The somewhat surprising result and indeed promising result is that they believe Australia to be the safest destination of all English speaking destinations – and by quite a margin,” Mr Pollock says.

Executive Director of Carnegie Mellon University Australia Tim Zak says that the survey confirm what most Adelaide people already know.

“Adelaide is a cosmopolitan city well suited to studying. It’s quiet but not boring, inexpensive and well designed. We don’t have the law and order problems that larger cities have. Plus there’s a commitment by all levels of government to further education. That’s reflected in the culture,” he says.

The South Australian State Further Education Minister, Michael O’Brien, says, “This puts Adelaide in front of a lot of other cities on one of the most important factors (safety).

In South Australia, international students are also offered the same public transport discounts as local students (making savings of up to $750 every year) unlike students in some other states.

The latest figures show that the cost of living in Adelaide is:

• 24 per cent cheaper than Sydney
• 21 per cent cheaper than Melbourne

“Adelaide is a very beautiful city. It is an easy city to walk around and there are always bargains to pick up in the market. I found people in Adelaide very polite. In Mumbai I am considered a polite person but here I felt locals were more polite than me! They are always ready to help you,” says Carnegie Mellon Indian graduate student, Manisha Biswas.

For more information on safety in Adelaide go to http://www.cityofadelaide.com.au/adccbrandwr/_assets/main/lib60095/keep_adelaide_safe.pdf

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