THE Australian Education Exhibition 2002, which showcased a wide range of Australia’s educational opportunities, attracted more than 2,000 visitors, most of them students, at its opening day Wednesday.

　More than 20 leading Australian high schools and some of Australia’s top universities took part in the one-day exhibition.Many Chinese have relished the idea of studying in Australia in recent years because of reasonable fees and quality education.

　Sources from the Australian Consulate-General in Guangzhou, the organizer of the exhibition, indicated there were about 1,000 student visa applications from Shenzhen to study in Australia, with middle school students accounting for 60 percent.The new process for student visas that began July 1 last year is considered to be the main factor attracting more Chinese students, according to Zhu Bihua of the Australian Education Center in Beijing.

　The improvement of visa application efficiency is another factor contributing to the substantial increase in visa applications, he said. Students can send visa applications direct to the Offshore Processing Center of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), Australia, instead of the Australian Embassy in Beijing. They would receive return information within four to five months, Zhu said.